Ansiedade social e cooperação em contexto de hierarquia social

The Ultimatum Game is a methodology of the Game Theory that intends to investigate the individuals cooperative behavior in situations of resources division. Studies have shown that half of the subjects don’t accept unfair division of resources, and prefer to bear a momentary cost to revenge the deceivers. However, people who have assertiveness impairment, such as social phobic individuals, could have some difficulties to reject unfair offer division resource, especially in situations that cause over anxiety, like being in the presence of an individual considered to be in a high hierarchical level. A negative perception about his own worth can also make the person thinks that he does not deserve a fair division. These individuals also have a strong desire to convey a positive impression to the others, which could cause them to be more generous in a resource division. The aim of this study was to verify, through the Ultimatum Game, if social anxiety individuals would accept more high confederate’s unfair offers that low confederate’s unfair offers; and if they would be more generous in goods division, in the same game, when compared to individuals without social anxiety. Ninety-five (95) college students participated in this study answering the Social Phobia Inventory, the Factorial Scale of Extroversion, socio-demographic questionnaire, situational anxiety scale and, finally, the Ultimatum Game in four rounds (1st and 3rd – confederate representing high or low ranking using an unfair proposal; 2nd – confederate without social status using fair proposal; 4th – subject’s research proposes the offer). The results showed a significant negative correlation between social anxiety and haughtiness, and social anxiety and assertiveness, and a significant positive correlation between social anxiety and situational anxiety. There was no significant difference in situational anxiety due to the status for anxious individuals. Also we found no significant difference in the amount of donated goods, showing that generous behavior does not differ between groups. Finally, the social status did not influence the decision in response to the game for anxious individuals. These results corroborate to other studies that show the relationship between social anxiety and assertiveness, and social anxiety and negative self-perception capability and value (low haughtiness). As show the results of situational anxiety scale, the high status stimulus was not perceived as threatening to the individual, which may have affected his answer in the game. The results for the Ultimatum Game follow the same direction as the acceptance rate for unfair proposals (approximately 50%) in studies with non-clinical sample.

Cash or non-cash: that is the question - the story of e-payment for social welfare in Ireland part 2

E-Government in its various forms and extensions, notably T-Government, is often presented as the panacea for resolving such complex social problems as social exclusion, lack of governance transparency, poor value for money and other ailments of modern societies. Yet, E-Government has not been adopted up to predicted levels. Many case studies investigating success factors, maturity models, and the application of acceptance models have been presented over the last 15 years, but a deep understanding of the potential impact and consequences of E-Government is still lacking. This is especially true for those initiatives that involve socio-economic and cultural contexts, which makes their evaluation and the prediction of their impact difficult. This paper reports on an on-going E-Government initiative in Ireland aimed at implementing E-payments for G2C, notably in the social welfare area. Three sets of personal surveys have been carried out to understand the perceived impact of governmental plans of moving from an almost fully cash-based payment system to a fully electronic based solution. Early results indicate that perceived pre-requisites for the planned change may be misleading. The impact on recipients’ lives cannot solely be measured in terms of economic gains: the consequences of such implementation may well reach further than expected.

Mitigating Social Risk in the Extractive Sector: Developing Intercultural Competence as a Tool for Negotiating Western-Indigenous Perspectives within the Undergraduate Mining Engineering Curriculum

Drawing upon critical, communications, and educational theories, this thesis develops a novel framing of the problem of social risk in the extractive sector, as it relates to the building of respectful relationships with indigenous peoples. Building upon Bakhtin’s dialogism, the thesis demonstrates the linkage of this aspect of social risk to professional education, and specifically, to the undergraduate mining engineering curriculum, and develops a framework for the development of skills related to intercultural competence in the education of mining engineers. The knowledge of social risk, as well as the level of intercultural competence, of students in the mining engineering program, is investigated through a mixture of surveys and focus groups – as is the impact of specific learning interventions. One aspect of this investigation is whether development of these attributes alters graduates’ conception of their identity as mining engineers, i.e. the range and scope of responsibilities, and understanding of to whom responsibilities are owed, and their role in building trusting relationships with communities. Survey results demonstrate that student openness to the perspectives of other cultures increases with exposure to the second year curriculum. Students became more knowledgeable about social dimensions of responsible mining, but not about cultural dimensions. Analysis of focus group data shows that students are highly motivated to improve community perspectives and acceptance. It is observed that students want to show respect for diverse peoples and communities where they will work, but they are hampered by their inability to appreciate the viewpoints of people who do not share their values. They embrace benefit sharing and environmental protection as norms, but they mistakenly conclude that opposition to mining is rooted in a lack of education rather than in cultural values. Three, sequential, threshold concepts are identified as impeding development of intercultural competence: Awareness and Acknowledgement of Different Forms of Knowledge; Recognition that Value Systems are a Function of Culture; Respect for varied perceptions of Social Wellbeing and Quality of Life. Future curriculum development in the undergraduate mining engineering program, as well as in other educational programs relevant to the extractive sector, can be effectively targeted by focusing on these threshold concepts.

Utilizing ICT to prevent loneliness and social isolation of the elderly. A literature review

Ageing of the population is a worldwide phenomenon. Numerous ICT-based solutions have been developed for elderly care but mainly connected to the physiological and nursing aspects in services for the elderly. Social work is a profession that should pay attention to the comprehensive wellbeing and social needs of the elderly. Many people experience loneliness and depression in their old age, either as a result of living alone or due to a lack of close family ties and reduced connections with their culture of origin, which results in an inability to participate actively in community activities (Singh & Misra, 2009). Participation in society would enhance the quality of life. With the development of information technology, the use of technology in social work practice has risen dramatically. The aim of this literature review is to map out the state of the art of knowledge about the usage of ICT in elderly care and to figure out research-based knowledge about the usability of ICT for the prevention of loneliness and social isolation of elderly people. The data for the current research comes from the core collection of the Web of Science and the data searching was performed using Boolean? The searching resulted in 216 published English articles. After going through the topics and abstracts, 34 articles were selected for the data analysis that is based on a multi approach framework. The analysis of the research approach is categorized according to some aspects of using ICT by older adults from the adoption of ICT to the impact of usage, and the social services for them. This literature review focused on the function of communication by excluding the applications that mainly relate to physical nursing. The results show that the so-called ‘digital divide’ still exists, but the older adults have the willingness to learn and utilise ICT in daily life, especially for communication. The data shows that the usage of ICT can prevent the loneliness and social isolation of older adults, and they are eager for technical support in using ICT. The results of data analysis on theoretical frames and concepts show that this research field applies different theoretical frames from various scientific fields, while a social work approach is lacking. However, a synergic frame of applied theories will be suggested from the perspective of social work.

Ansiedade a Exames no Contexto do Ensino Secundário: o papel da ansiedade social, auto-criticismo e competências de mindfulness e aceitação

No presente trabalho, estudamos a Ansiedade aos Testes, entre a população estudantil adolescente. Queremos estudá-la enquanto traço comum da Perturbação de Ansiedade Social; simultaneamente, desejamos captar o papel desempenhado por outras variáveis psicológicas, como o auto-criticismo, e as competências de aceitação e consciência de si (minfulness). A amostra do estudo consiste em 449 estudantes de uma escola secundária de Coimbra, que responderam a um conjunto de 5 questionários. Adoptámos como medidas da ansiedade aos testes a versão portuguesa do Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI) (Ponciano, 1980) e a Escala de Cognições e Comportamentos na Ansiedade aos Exames (ECCAE) (Pinto-Gouveia, Melo e Pereira, 2005); da Ansiedade Social a EAESSA (Escala de Ansiedade e Evitamento de Situações Sociais para Adolescentes – Cunha, Pinto-Gouveia e Salvador, 2002); como medida da auto-complacência e consciência de si a versão portuguesa ad hoc da CAMM (Child Acceptance and Mindfulness Measure - Greco, Smith & Baer, 2008); do auto-criticismo a adaptação portuguesa do FRSC (Forms of Self-Criticizing/Attacking and Self-Reassuring Scale, Gilbert et al., 2004, Castilho e Pinto-Gouveia, 2005). De maneira geral, os resultados desta investigação coadunam-se com a literatura, no que diz respeito ao efeito de género e da preponderância do componente cognitivo na ansiedade face aos exames (frequência de cognições ansiosas); por outro lado, indicam que determinados construtos psicológicos, como o auto-criticismo (selfcriticism) e as competências de aceitação e consciência de si (acceptance e mindfulness), se encontram associadas à ansiedade aos exames. Os estudos futuros devem esclarecer a arquitectura funcional desta relação.

Sintomas depressivos e ansiosos, stresse, coping e resiliência em Técnicos Superiores de Reinserção Social

Introdução: Os trabalhos sobre correlatos psicológicos em Técnicos Superiores de Reinserção Social (TSRS) no nosso país são inexistentes. São nossos objetivos analisar os níveis de sintomas depressivos e ansiosos, stresse, coping e resiliência numa amostra de TSRS; explorar diferenças nestas variáveis por sexo, estado civil, Delegação regional e tipo de competências das equipas de reinserção social; explorar associações entre todas as variáveis referidas nesta amostra (entre si e com a variável sociodemográfica idade e as variáveis profissionais tempo de serviço e horas de trabalho semanal). Metodologia: 89 TSRS (sexo feminino, n = 67; 75,3%), com idades entre os 27 e os 61 anos (M = 47,4; DP = 7,10) preencheram um protocolo composto por questões sociodemográficas e profissionais, a Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, o Brief COPE e a Escala para avaliar as competências na área da Resiliência. Resultados: As mulheres apresentaram níveis maiores de Suporte Emocional e Instrumental comparativamente aos homens. Os profissionais da Delegação do Centro apresentaram pontuação mais elevada de Resiliência vs. da Delegação do Norte e os da Delegação do Norte maiores níveis de Stresse vs. os da Delegação do Sul e Ilhas. Os profissionais com competência mista apresentaram maiores níveis de Ansiedade vs. com competência específica. Encontrámos associações significativas (na amostra total) entre a Depressão e a Negação e o Uso de Substâncias. No sexo masculino o uso de Suporte Emocional e Instrumental associaram-se à Depressão e à Ansiedade. De uma forma geral, em todas as Delegações (consideradas separadamente), maiores níveis de Resiliência associaram-se a estratégias mais positivas de coping (e.g. Coping ativo) e maiores níveis de Depressão, Ansiedade e Stresse a níveis menores de estratégias positivas de coping (e.g. Aceitação) e a níveis maiores de estratégias negativas de coping (e.g. Uso de substâncias). Os técnicos quer de equipas com competência mista quer de equipas com competência específica, com níveis maiores de Ansiedade, apresentaram níveis maiores de estratégias de coping negativas (e.g. Negação). Discussão: Este estudo revelou existirem algumas diferenças por sexo nos TSRS e apresentou dados importantes sobre os construtos psicológicos dos TSRS de diferentes Delegações e de equipas com diferentes competências, apontando possíveis aspetos a considerar num trabalho de intervenção com estes profissionais. Tal como esperado, no geral, maiores níveis de resiliência associaram-se, como noutros profissionais, a estratégias mais positivas de coping e maiores níveis de sintomas a estratégias mais negativas de coping. / Introduction: Studies on psychological correlates on Probation Officers (TSRS) in our country are nonexistent. Our purposes are to analyze the levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms, stress, coping and resilience in a sample of TSRS; to explore differences in these variables by gender, marital status, Regional Delegation and type of responsibility of local organic units; to explore associations between all variables mentioned in this sample (among themselves and with the sociodemographic variable age and the professional variables years of service and weekly hours of work"). Methodology: 89 TSRS (females, n = 67, 75.3 %), aged between 27 and 61 years (M = 47.4, SD = 7.10) completed a protocol consisting of sociodemographic and professional questions, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, the Brief COPE Scale and the Scale to assess resilience skills. Results: Women had higher levels on Use of Instrumental and Emotional Social Support compared to men. The professionals of the Delegation of the Centre had higher scores on Resilience vs. professionals of the Delegation of the North and the North Delegation had higher levels of Stress vs. the Delegation of the South and Islands. The professionals with mixed competence had higher levels of Anxiety vs. those with specific competence. We found significant associations (in the total sample) between Depression, Denial and Substances Use. In males, the use of Emotional Social Support and Instrumental Support was associated with Depression and Anxiety. Overall, in all Delegations (considered separately), higher levels of Resilience were associated with more positive coping strategies (e.g., Active Coping) and higher levels of Depression, Anxiety and Stress with lower levels of positive coping strategies ( e.g. Acceptance) and higher levels of negative coping strategies (e.g. Substances Use). TSRS with higher levels of Anxiety, either in teams of mixed and specific competence, had higher levels of negative coping strategies (e.g. Denial). Discussion: This study revealed that there were some gender differences in TSRS and provided important data on the psychological constructs of TSRS of different Delegations and different types of organic units, pointing to possible issues to be addressed in an intervention work with these professionals. As expected, in general, higher levels of Resilience were associated, as in other professionals, with more positive coping strategies and higher levels of symptoms with more negative coping strategies.

El impacto de la red social twitter en la información local del diario El Tiempo y El Mercurio en el periodo febrero-junio

La red social Twitter da sus comienzos en el año 2006, su idioma inicial fue el inglés, su principal función es la de crear textos de 140 caracteres para dar a conocer información, dentro de una empresa, pero con el pasar del tiempo esta herramienta fue evolucionando hasta convertirse en la primera red de aceptación como apoyo para el periodismo digital. El Periodismo actual se está ayudando de herramientas tecnológicas como el Twitter para poder aportar noticias o acontecimientos que se generan dentro del territorio local, nacional y también a nivel internacional. Los diarios locales como: diario El Tiempo y diario El Mercurio dieron sus inicios a la era digital al mismo tiempo, ambos medios de comunicación poseen sus respectivas versiones electrónicas con las cuales informan a la ciudadanía ecuatoriana y a las personas que viven fuera del país. Los periodistas han aportado con conocimientos y experiencias personales en el manejo de Twitter como herramienta esencial que tiene el periodismo en la actualidad, también están de acuerdo que los periodistas necesitan de la última tecnología para poder sacarle el mayor provecho a esta red social, poseer dispositivos móviles facilita el desempeño periodístico y se puede twittear desde cualquier lugar donde acontecen hechos noticiosos.

Música na multideficiência: impacto na qualidade de vida e no comportamento pessoal e social de uma comunidade em particular

A presente investigação reflete um estudo que investiga o impacto da música na melhoria da qualidade de vida de uma população de adultos com deficiência mental e/ou sensorial e/ou motora, ao nível dos comportamentos individuais e sociais, e das capacidades de comunicação e expressão interpessoal. Com ele, tenciona-se trilhar um caminho na aceitação e valorização de cada indivíduo enquanto ser individual e social, encarando os seus aspetos singulares, biológicos e sociais como oportunidades de exploração de capacidades e particularidades, e investigando a concretização destes ideais através da música. Neste sentido, durante o ano letivo de 2014/2015, conduziu-se uma intervenção prática semanal junto de uma comunidade com multideficiência que frequenta um Centro de Atividades Ocupacionais de uma Instituição Particular de Solidariedade Social do concelho de Ílhavo. Após terem sido delineados objetivos específicos para o grupo e objetivos individuais para cada um dos elementos da amostra, realizaram-se dois períodos de experimentação, entre os quais se procedeu à aferição de ferramentas. Os resultados das sessões implementadas foram avaliados através de uma escala de avaliação e de questionários. Provou-se que todos os objetivos foram concretizados e concluiu-se que a música pode proporcionar melhorias significativas na qualidade de vida de uma população com deficiência ou incapacidade. A proposta não é de inclusão, mas sim de não exclusão, sendo o projeto musical um agente dinamizador e consciencializador de princípios éticos de uma cidadania mais participativa.

The use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to address psychological distress experienced by caregivers: a randomised controlled feasibility trial

Background: An extensive research literature has documented the impact of caring for an individual with acquired brain injury (ABI) on caregivers and family members, including role adjustment, psychological distress, social isolation, family tension and coping with the cognitive and behavioural difficulties of the injured person. Given these findings it is important this population have access to services and supports. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an intervention that helps individuals to accept difficult experiences and commit to behaviour that is consistent with their values. Research into the effectiveness of ACT to support caregivers is at a preliminary stage. Aim: To investigate the feasibility of using ACT to reduce psychological distress and increase psychological flexibility in ABI caregivers. A secondary aim was to gain an understanding of the experience of caregivers in this context and how this can inform the development and delivery of interventions for this population. Method: Phase one was a randomised controlled feasibility trial of an ACT intervention for use with ABI caregivers. The parameters of this study were formulated around the PICO (population, intervention, control, and outcome) framework. Eighteen carers were recruited and randomised to ACT or an enhanced treatment as usual (ETAU) group. ACT was implemented over 3 sessions; and ETAU was implemented over 2 sessions. The General Health Questionnaire, Valuing Questionnaire, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, Experiential Avoidance of Caregiving Questionnaire and the Flexibility of Responses to Self-Critical Thoughts Scale were administered to both groups at baseline and following the final session. Phase two used a retrospective qualitative design that involved conducting semi-structured interviews with four participants from phase one. Results: ACT and control participants were successfully recruited. Positive feedback was obtained from ACT participants suggesting that the intervention was acceptable. There were no significant differences between the ACT and ETAU groups on outcome measures. However, there were challenges retaining participants and the overall attrition rate was high (44.44%). Therefore a number of participants did not complete the full complement of sessions, which may have impacted on this result. Qualitative results illustrated the challenges this population face including significant adjustments in their life, the emotional impact of having a loved one with a brain injury and trying to adapt to the changes in the injured person. In addition, findings elucidated the types of support that this population would find helpful and the barriers to accessing same. Conclusions: Findings from this study highlight factors that will help the development of this intervention further for a caring population. Recommendations for future implementation include completing some preparatory work with carers before beginning the intervention, consideration of a larger sample and wider recruitment strategy from local services, barriers to attending interventions and the possibility of holding groups in local venues.

Modeling the impact of social discrimination on the physical and mental health of portuguese gay, lesbian and bisexual people

Background: Despite growing acceptance of same-sex sexuality in Portugal, identity development of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals is still restricted by negative societal attitudes, which maintain the experience of stigmatization and discrimination. The purpose of this study is to document the frequency of discriminatory events experienced by sexual minorities and their association with indicators of physical and mental health in Portugal. Methods: A total of 610 LGB participants completed an online survey (mean age = 34.48, SD = 11.54). Most participants were single and self-identified as gay (73.8%). The survey included five categories of survey items: demographic information, social support, physical health, mental health, and discrimination experiences. Results: Physical and mental health results revealed that bisexual people were more likely to report higher levels of psychological distress than gay men. Overall, between one-fifth and one-fourth of the participants in this sample frequently felt the need to hide their sexual orientation to prevent discrimination experiences across the different settings. Regarding actual discrimination experiences, close to 20% reported having suffered from verbal abuse, followed by close to 10% who suffered from written threats, harassment, and physical threats. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the effects of anticipated and actual discrimination on mental health. Possible confounding variables were added in the first block – age, sexual orientation, being in a relationship, body mass index, and HIV status. Anticipated and actual discrimination experiences were added in the second block. The first block of the analysis explained 6% of the overall variance, while the second block – discrimination experiences – explained an additional 17%. Conclusion: Portuguese culture and stigma/discrimination create discriminatory experiences which impact LGB people’s health. Unless policies are changed to allow for the acceptance of LGB people, they will continue to experience violence and discrimination as a result of homophobia.

The Effect of Supportive Social Interaction Priming on Children's Prosocial Comforing Responses to Distressed Others

The ability to sensitively care for others’ wellbeing develops early in ontogeny and is an important developmental milestone for healthy social, emotional, and moral development. One facet of care for others, prosocial comforting, has been linked with important social outcomes such as peer acceptance and friendship quality, underscoring the importance of determining factors involved in the ability to comfort. Although social support has been linked with a number of important social outcomes, no study has directly examined whether felt social support can foster children’s positive behavior toward others. The purpose of the current investigation was to use an experimental priming paradigm to demonstrate that felt social support a) enhances children’s ability to respond prosocially to the distress of others and b) decreases children’s expressions of personal distress when faced with the distress of another person. Participants were 94 4-year-old children (M = 53.56 months, SD = 3.38 months; 52 girls). Children were randomly assigned to either view pictures of mothers and children in close, personal interactions (supportive social interaction condition), happy women and children in separate pictures, presented side-by-side (happy control condition), or pictures of colorful overlapping shapes (neutral control condition). Each set of 20 pictures was presented in the context of a categorization computer game that participants played 4 times throughout the course of the study. Immediately following the first three computer games, children were given the opportunity to comfort someone who was distressed; twice it was the adult experimenter working with the child, and once it was an unseen infant crying over a monitor that participants had been trained to use. Comforting behaviors and distress/arousal were coded in 10-second time segments and yielded a global comforting score and a distress proportion score for each task. Results indicated that priming condition had no effect on either prosocial comforting behavior or expressions of personal distress. I discuss these null findings in light of the available literatures on priming mental representations in children and on prosocial comforting, and suggest some future directions for continued investigation in both fields.

Social engagement and adaptive functioning during early childhood: Identifying and distinguishing among subgroups differing with regard to social engagement

This study tested the hypothesis that social engagement (SE) with peers is a fundamental aspect of social competence during early childhood. Relations between SE and a set of previously validated social competence indicators, as well as additional variables derived from observation and sociometric interviews were assessed using both variable-centered and person-centered approaches (N = 1453, 696 girls) in 4 samples (3 U.S.A., 1 Portuguese). Directly observed SE was positively associated with broad-band measures of socially competent behavior, peer acceptance, being a target of peers' attention, and also with broad-band personality dimensions. Using individual Q-items significantly associated with SE in 3 of our 4 samples, a hierarchical cluster analysis yielded a 5-cluster solution that grouped cases efficiently. Tests on relations between cluster membership and the set of social competence and other variables revealed significant main effects of cluster membership in the full sample and within each individual sample, separately. With the exception of tests for peer negative preference, children in the lowest SE cluster also had significantly lower overall social competence, personality functioning scores than did children in higher SE clusters.

Cyberbullying: competencia social, motivación y relaciones entre iguales

El reconocimiento de cierto solapamiento entre el acoso cara a cara (bullying) y el ciberacoso (cyberbullying) puede indicar que variables de cognición social, cuya influencia ha sido reconocida en el bullying, también estén presentes en el acoso cibernético. El objetivo de la investigación fue estudiar el ajuste social de los implicados en cyberbullying y analizar las diferencias en la percepción de la competencia social, la motivación y el apoyo de los iguales, entre víctimas, agresores y agresores victimizados del cyberbullying. Un total de 505 adolescentes (47,3% chicas) con edades comprendidas entre los 12 y 16 años (M=13.95; DT=1.42) participaron en el estudio. Se utilizaron instrumentos para adolescentes validados en español y se analizaron las propiedades psicométricas para la adaptación de la escala de competencia social. Análisis factoriales exploratorios y confirmatorios mostraron índices óptimos de fiabilidad y validez. Se observó una mayor implicación de los ciberagresores victimizados. Las comparaciones entre roles a través de pruebas no paramétricas mostraron en los ciberagresores un mayor apoyo social que el resto de perfiles y altos niveles en metas de popularidad. Las cibervíctimas destacaron por su alta percepción de competencia social. Los ciberagresores victimizados mostraron altos niveles de metas de popularidad y baja aceptación social. Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que la forma en que el grupo de iguales gestiona su vida emocional y social puede estar explicando la situación de cyberbullying entre los adolescentes.

Social engagement and adaptive functioning during early childhood: Identifying and distinguishing among subgroups differing with regard to social engagement

Materia Suplementar disponível em: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0000142.supp

Determinants of engagement in virtual social networks in Singapore

The use of virtual social networks (VSNs) has been prevalent among consumers worldwide. Numerous studies have investigated various aspects of VSNs. However, these studies have mainly focused on students and young adults as they were early adopters of these innovative networks. A search of the literature revealed there has been a paucity of research on adult consumers’ use of VSNs. This research study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the determinants of engagement in VSNs among adult consumers in Singapore. The objectives of this study are to empirically investigate the determinants of engagement in VSNs and to offer theoretical insights into consumers’ preference and usage of VSNs. This study tapped upon several theories developed in the discipline of technology and innovation adoption. These were Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation, Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Conceptual Framework of Individual Innovation Adoption by Frambach and Schillewaert (2002), Enhanced Model of Innovation Adoption by Talukder (2011), Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) and the Information Systems (IS) Success Model. The proposed research model, named the Media Usage Model (MUM), is a framework rooted in innovation diffusion and IS theories. The MUM distilled the essence of these established models and thus provides an updated, lucid explanation of engagement in VSNs. A cross-sectional, online social survey was conducted to collect quantitative data to examine the validity of the proposed research model. Multivariate data analysis was carried out on a data set comprising 806 usable responses by utilizing SPSS, and for structural equation modeling AMOS and SmartPLS. The results indicate that consumer attitude towards VSNs is significantly and positively influenced by: three individual factors – hedonic motivation, incentives and experience; two system characteristics – system quality and information quality; and one social factor – social bonding. Consumer demographics were found to influence people’s attitudes towards VSNs. In addition, consumer experience and attitude towards VSNs significantly and positively influence their usage of VSNs. The empirical data supported the proposed research model, explaining 80% of variance in attitude towards VSNs and 45% of variance in usage of VSNs. Therefore, the MUM achieves a definite contribution to theoretical knowledge of consumer engagement in VSNs by deepening and broadening our appreciation of the intricacies related to use of VSNs in Singapore. This study’s findings have implications for customer service management, services marketing and consumer behavior. These findings also have strategic implications for maximizing efficient utilization and effective management of VSNs by businesses and operators. The contributions of this research are: firstly, shifting the boundaries of technology or innovation adoption theories from research on employees to consumers as well as the boundaries of Internet usage or adoption research from students to adults, which is also known as empirical generalization; secondly, highlighting the issues associated with lack of significance of social factors in adoption research; and thirdly, augmenting information systems research by integrating important antecedents for success in information systems.