Trial reportJMIR formative research2025
Mitigating the Negative Effects of Internet Browsing on Young People's Resilience and Outlook on Life Through Classic Grimms' Fairy Tales: Exploratory Randomized Controlled Study.
Trial report in JMIR formative research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Effects of Open-World and Fun, Accessible Games on Perceived Loneliness and Stoicism in Adults: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.JMIR serious games · 2026Article
- Super Mario Bros. and Yoshi Games' Affordance of Childlike Wonder and Reduced Burnout Risk in Young Adults: In-Depth Mixed Methods Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInternet browsing is a daily activity for many young people. However, how internet browsing affects young people's resilience and positive (vs negative) outlook on life remains largely unaddressed. Critically, how reading classical fairy tales may help mitigate the influence of internet browsing on resilience and foster a more positive rather than negative outlook on life has yet to be explored.
objectiveThis study examines the influence of internet browsing on young people's resilience and positive (vs negative) outlook on life. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the potential mitigating effect of reading classical Grimms' fairy tales, such as Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood, on the relationship between internet browsing and postgraduate students' resilience and outlook on life.
methodsA randomized controlled study was conducted using a 2 (internet browsing vs no internet browsing) × 2 (reading a classical fairy tale vs no classical fairy tale) between-subjects design. All study participants (N=412) were postgraduate students and randomly assigned to one of the study's 4 conditions and answered a brief questionnaire, examining their resilience and positive versus negative outlook on life. To examine the potential mitigating effect of classical fairy tales on the relationship between internet browsing and resilience as well as positive versus negative outlook on life, we conducted an exploratory bootstrapping-based moderated mediation analysis with 5000 resamples.
resultsThe results showed a significant moderating role of reading classical Grimms' fairy tales on the negative effect of internet browsing on postgraduate students' resilience and outlook on life. Specifically, when study participants browsed the internet, they reported a more positive outlook on life when they read a Grimms' fairy tale (read fairy tale: mean 5.46, SD 0.151 vs not read fairy tale: mean 3.01, SD 0.150, SE 0.213, 95% CI -2.860 to -2.024; P<.001). Furthermore, the results showed that when participants browsed the internet, they indicated significantly greater resilience when they read a Grimms' tale (mean 4.62, SE 0.179, 95% CI 4.271-4.976) than when they did not (mean 2.59, SE 0.179, 95% CI 2.243-2.945). In addition, an exploratory analysis demonstrated that the effect of internet browsing on outlook on life is mediated by resilience (effect 0.85, SE 0.17, 95% CI 0.52-1.20).
conclusionsThe findings of this study show that reading a classical Grimms' fairy tale, such as Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood, helped mitigate the negative effects of internet browsing on postgraduate students' resilience and outlook on life.
trial registrationISRCTN 16972408; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN16972408.
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