INPSY members attended the European Developmental Psychology Conference in Vilnius
Lukas Blinka accepted an invitation to be one of the keynote speakers at the European Developmental Psychology Conference, which took place in Lithuania this year. The main goal of the conference was to give experts a chance to share their latest findings and insights in the field of developmental psychology and to exchange ideas, thoughts, and experiences with experts from across Europe and beyond.
In his lecture on Youth Digital Gaming: Excessive or Expected?, Lukas talked about the role digital technologies play in the lives of today's children and how to distinguish normal consumption of digital media from excessive or problematic consumption. He drew on current data, particularly from the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, and presented the current manifestations, prevalence, and risks of excessive gaming and how it has changed in recent years.
At the same time, he critically assessed the usefulness of understanding excessive gaming as an "addiction" and the limitations of the symptomatology used in this context. In conclusion, he emphasized the need for a balanced, research-based perspective that goes beyond polarized debates and offers meaningful understanding and tools for working with young people's digital engagement.
Jana Fikrlová also spoke on behalf of INPSY. In her lecture, she presented research she had collaborated on with our director Honza Šerek on how adolescents' interactions with their peers shape their expectations of friendship and subsequently influence the quality of relationships throughout their lives. In her presentation, she described the results of a qualitative study that showed how young people develop important interpersonal skills, such as trust and self-disclosure, through both positive and negative experiences with their peers.
Linda Oweisova, a doctoral student from the Department of Psychology at FSS MUNI, also gave a presentation. In her contribution, she focused on gender differences in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of adolescents. Based on data from the HBSC survey, she showed that girls more often choose avoidance strategies associated with lower life satisfaction and poorer health, while boys made more use of family support, which led to better mental health.
