Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding The Current Role Of Social Media In American Samoan Adolescent Lives, Mukund Desibhatla

Public Health Theses

Purpose: This exploratory study investigated the social and cultural factors that shape social media use among adolescents in

American Samoa. Methods: This project was a secondary qualitative analysis. Methodological considerations included an

interpretivist approach to epistemology and alignment with the Fa’afaletui Pacific framework. Phenomenology methods were

used to “bracket” researcher biases. A 21st-century flexible coding approach proposed by Deterding et al. 2021 was applied

to the dataset [31]. Transcript excerpts were re-sorted by the index code: social media/technology as a predictor of mental

illness. An abductive thematic analysis, stemming from inductive and deductive reasoning, was used to analyze the codebook …

Personal Branding, Reality Television, And Social Media: How Former Big Brother Contestants Create, Maintain, And Alter Their Public Image, Justin L. Richards

Masters Theses

This study interrogated how these theories were potentially used, or aspects of the theories used to create, alter, or maintain, the contestant’s personal brands on two social media platforms. Informed by previous literature on personal branding and impression management, 1,021 pieces of social media communication were analyzed, 499 pieces of communication from Taylor Hale, and 522 pieces of communication from Paulie Calafiore. This study determined that there were up to five different patterns on the kind of content produced that still qualified under these theories for Taylor Hale, and up to four different patterns for Paulie Calafiore. Some patterns appeared …

Insights On Motivation Of Tiktok Users Over 18-Years-Old Post-Completion Of Dangerous Challenges, Christine Wong

Honors Theses - Providence Campus

TikTok is known for 15 second to 10-minute videos instead of text posts with limited characters, characteristic of Twitter, and users have used the platform to share dangerous challenges or their attempts. Much research has been done on why children and adolescents participate in these challenges with few studies focusing on young adults. Here, a survey was created and advertised on well-known social media sites, seeking TikTok users over 18-years-old who participated in one or more dangerous challenge. The goal was to gain insight into the motivations for participating, so the questions regarded their experience in attempting the challenge(s). While …

Marketing Ploy Or Mental Health Crisis? An Analysis Of Fan Responses To Celebrity Narratives, Kayla M. Ostrander

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Recently, celebrities have become more candid with their narratives than ever before through use of their social media accounts. While most celebrities use their social media accounts for purposes such as showing a positive or unknown side of them or to promote their work, others have posted narratives that have come under public criticism, especially Kanye ‘Ye’ West with his recent antisemitic-themed posts. In my study I examine what Kanye’s fans and the public believes to be his motivation for his recent narratives in October 2022 and December 2022, and their reasoning for assigning these motives. I collected a total …

In The Shadows, But Not Left Behind: Female Sex Workers' Acceptance Of Social Media For Hiv Prevention In Northwest And Southwest Provinces, Cameroon, Hassanatu Blake

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate the acceptance of social media in HIV prevention education for female sex workers in Cameroon. The objectives included: (1) provide a review of literature on the use of social media in HIV prevention education among Female Sex workers (FSWs); (2) determine the acceptance of Secret Facebook Group (SFG) for HIV prevention education among FSW in Cameroon; and (3) explain the acceptance of SFG in HIV prevention education and social media platform alternatives to SFG in Cameroon. Utilizing a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, three methods were employed for this dissertation and guided …

Assaulting The Citadel Of Section 230 Immunity: Products Liability, Social Media, And The Youth Mental Health Crisis, Matthew P. Bergman

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The exponential rise in social media use among minors since 2008 is responsible for a precipitous increase in youth mental health injuries and suicides. These harms result from the design of social media platforms which elevate maximizing user engagement over providing minors with a safe online experience, yet social media companies benefit from broad construction of § 230 immunity to evade liability. Courts’ expansive interpretation of § 230 is historically analogous to the application of the privity doctrine in the 19th century to shield manufacturers from liability for designing dangerously defective products. The demise of the privity doctrine and rise …

Relationship Between Country Culture, Country Demographics, And Restaurant Electronic Word-Of-Mouth Valence Ratings, Cynthia Roberts Maubert

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have documented that country culture and country demographics influence electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) within various industries. Although past research has shown the importance of eWOM to restaurants as a measure of consumer satisfaction, researchers have not established the effect of country culture and country demographics on eWOM within the restaurant industry. Thus, the specific management problem addressed in this quantitative correlational study was the lack of knowledge and understanding regarding the relationship between country culture, country demographics, and restaurant eWOM valence ratings. Grounded in Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, the research questions addressed six measures of country culture, 12 measures of …

The Effects Of Gender, Age, And Year Of Study On Occupational Therapy Students’ Social Media Competency, Vikram Pagpatan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Occupational therapy students (OTSs) who misuse social media within academic and clinical learning environments may increase the instances of ethical health care violations and breaches of professional codes of conduct. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to assess the social media competency (SMC) scores of OTSs based on year of study, age, and gender. As a result, the research questions were developed to compare the SMC of OTSs based on year of study, age, and gender. The study was grounded by Bandura’s social learning theory and a rationale for allowing social media use in the curriculum. An archived …

The Effects Of Gender, Age, And Year Of Study On Occupational Therapy Students’ Social Media Competency, Vikram Pagpatan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Occupational therapy students (OTSs) who misuse social media within academic and clinical learning environments may increase the instances of ethical health care violations and breaches of professional codes of conduct. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to assess the social media competency (SMC) scores of OTSs based on year of study, age, and gender. As a result, the research questions were developed to compare the SMC of OTSs based on year of study, age, and gender. The study was grounded by Bandura’s social learning theory and a rationale for allowing social media use in the curriculum. An archived …

Student Perceptions Of Social Media In The Admissions Process, Skiler Ashley Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how prospective first-time-in-college minority students from a university in the southwestern part of the United States use social media to make decisions about matriculating at a 4-year public university. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with five students and two staff members. Social media accounts of the Office of Admissions and the general university social media accounts were reviewed for content. Existing research pointed to the top factors influencing students’ decision-making process when deciding where to attend college. The top reasons included cost of tuition and how connected students feel to …

Social Media And English Language Writing Performances Of A Ghanaian Esl Class: The Nexus, Ramos Asafo-Adjei, Ronald Osei Mensah, Ernest Kwesi Klu, Enock Swanzy-Impraim

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The nexus among social media usage and the English language writing performances of a Ghanaian English as Second Language (ESL) class was investigated in this enquiry. The simple qualitative case study design was used, and the data was collected from a co-educational government secondary school Form 2 General Arts One class in Ghana. A focus group discussion (FGD) guide was employed to elicit the data, and the data were synthesised and analysed using the Data Analysis Spiral. It was evidenced that social media has adversely impacted the students’ English Language learning, as oblivious and non-standard contents have been smuggled into …

Normal Redefined: Exploring Decontextualization Of Lorises (Nycticebus & Xanthonycticebus Spp.) On Social Media Platforms, Luke F. Quarles, Kim Feddema, Marco Campera, K. A.I. Nekaris

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Decontextualization is a concept from psychology whereby new words are learned outside of the context of the here-and-now. Decontextualized language is used for discussing abstract concepts and is crucial to the development of academic language. When it comes to images, a dearth of context can lead to a lack of clarity, such as the use of ambiguous decontextualized images in environmental communication, leading to the promotion of greenwashing. Here we refer to decontextualization as the removal of wildlife from their wild ecological context. Images and videos of globally threatened species are increasingly popular on social media. Showing such taxa …

Mapping The Research Trends On Social Media In The Hospitality Sector From 2010 To 2020, Eunjung Kim, Alexander Rolfe Best, Kijung Choi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: This study undertakes a systematic review of the literature to gain insight into existing studies on hospitality in social media and provide an update on current trends and themes in scholarship. Design: This study employs the systematic literature review to identify, evaluate, and synthesize the existing literature. Methodology: A total of 165 papers published between 2010–2020 were examined using content analysis and Leximancer. Approach: This review uses a hybrid review structure that incorporates structured reviews and narrative elements supported by Leximancer analysis. Findings: The review highlights the theories and methods used, research fields and perspectives, and key research topics …

Sport Celebrities’ Covid-19 Prevention On Social Media: The Effect Of Credibility, Social Distance, Identification, And Message’S Power Style On Health Behavioral Intentions, Kyu-Soo Chung, Chad Goebert

Faculty Articles

During the COVID-19 outbreak, there emerged on social media an active cohort of sport celebrities, promoting through their messages virus-prevention behaviors. The study tested how people’s intentions to adopt COVID-19 prevention practices were affected by their perceived credibility of sport celebrities, perceived social distance of sport celebrities, and identification with sport celebrities. The study also tested how the message’s power style moderated those relations. The researchers selected four sport celebrities who were active on social media and applied powerful and powerless linguistic styles in developing their social media messages. College students (N = 284) were randomly exposed to one of …

Deconstructing Orthorexia In An Age Of Healthism And Social Media, Maddison Paul

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Orthorexia, a pathological fixation with healthy eating, has recently emerged as a construct of interest in the field of clinical psychology. Despite its growing recognition, the origin of this construct remains unclear. This dissertation aims to contribute to the understanding of orthorexia by examining its emergence and contextual factors through a constructivist lens. The study found that the cultural, economic, and moralistic landscape of healthism and social medially have played a role in the development of orthorexia. The dominant clinical perspective of orthorexia was also deconstructed, revealing potential biases that may lead to pathologizing the experiences of those who demonstrate …

Campbell V. Reisch: The Dangers Of The Campaign Loophole In Social Media Blocking Litigation, Clare R. Norins, Mark Bailey

Scholarly Works

Since 2016, social media blocking by government officials has been a lively battleground for First Amendment rights of free speech and petition. Government officials increasingly rely on social media to communicate with the public while ever greater numbers of private individuals are voicing their opinions and petitioning for change on government officials' interactive social media accounts. Perhaps not surprisingly, this has prompted many government officials to block those users whose comments they deem to be critical or offensive. But such speech regulation by a government actor introduces viewpoint discrimination—a cardinal sin under the First Amendment.

In 2019, three United States …

#Teacherquittok: A Content Analysis Of How Current And Former Teachers Navigate Attrition On Tiktok, Forrest J. Kaiser

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this study is to use thematic content analysis to examine conversations and factors most discussed by teachers centering on attrition using the TikTok social media platform. Social media offers teachers a way to connect with others and share their thoughts while maintaining a perceived level of professional distance from their workplace. This research will explore how teachers use social media to provide a window into their classroom, working conditions, and decisions to leave or stay. The study was guided by the following questions: (1) How are current and former teachers using the TikTok social media platform to …

Awareness Of Social Media Audiences Among Adolescents In A School-Based Intervention, Keeley Hynes, Luke Russell, Daniel Lannin, Leandra N. Parris, Ani Yazedjian

Faculty Publications – Psychology

The current study investigated adolescents’ (N=213) decision finding processes and affective reactions to interactions on social media via 29 focus groups. As part of a larger study, adolescents participated in focus groups at two time-points across an academic year while participating in a school-based intervention promoting healthy romantic, interpersonal, and family relationships, job readiness, and financial literacy. Qualitative analyses indicated adolescents’ experiences and decisions on social media platforms were informed by their awareness of audiences, namely who they thought would view their posts and anticipated responses from “friends,” “family members,” “fans,” “creeps,” and “potential employers.” Comprehensive school-based interventions may serve …

Tutorial - Shodhguru Labs: Knowledge-Infused Artificial Intelligence For Mental Healthcare, Kaushik Roy

Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems for mental healthcare (MHCare) have been ever-growing after realizing the importance of early interventions for patients with chronic mental health (MH) conditions. Social media (SocMedia) emerged as the go-to platform for supporting patients seeking MHCare. The creation of peer-support groups without social stigma has resulted in patients transitioning from clinical settings to SocMedia supported interactions for quick help. Researchers started exploring SocMedia content in search of cues that showcase correlation or causation between different MH conditions to design better interventional strategies. User-level Classification-based AI systems were designed to leverage diverse SocMedia data from various MH conditions, …

An Analysis Of A Public Health Media Campaign In Switzerland, Eleanor Saskia Faulk-Antonakis

Plymouth Business School Theses

This multidisciplinary, grounded theory study analyses public health media communication for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) prevention in Switzerland. Health communication researchers measure the effects of media campaigns on populations to improve prevention. However, such effects may evade measurement due to complex interactions between audiences, media channels and ecology, message content, and targeting strategies. Competing theories explain media effects on health behaviours but there is a dearth of research examining upstream planning and stakeholder perceptions of media campaigns. In effect, interactions between communities, health officials, practitioners, and communication/media stakeholders are politically sensitive, and inaccessible to researchers. …

Inspirational Bullshit: The Good, The Bad, And The Vacuous, Esther Abel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There are myriad methods offered in the “self-help industry” and on social media promising to improve happiness. Some messages are evidence-based, often drawn from positive psychology research, and suggest actions requiring time and effort, while other messages may offer feel-good platitudes that are devoid of meaningful guidance; we label this latter type of content “inspirational bullshit.” Across two manuscripts, we investigate the predictors of liking different kinds of positive self-help content, from meaningless randomly-generated phrases to vacuous positivity to evidence-based advice. In the first manuscript, across three studies, bullshit receptivity (a tendency to judge pseudo-profound statements as profound) and people’s …

The Power Of Dissent: Mitigating False Polarization And Cross-Party Dislike In Online Interactions, Victoria Parker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

While actual polarization is on the rise in the United States, perceived polarization (i.e., false polarization) is growing at an even faster rate, contributing to increased cross-party hostility. A meaningful amount of out-party dislike may be produced by partisans’ dramatic overestimates of the prevalence of extreme, undesirable views among political opponents. In the current research, we examine whether exposing people to out-party dissenters who challenge their copartisans’ extreme views might help reduce people’s misperceptions of their opponents’ extreme views, and possibly mitigate animosity. Across five studies (N = 3789), we explore how seeing public ingroup dissent (in the form of …

Social Protection And Foundational Cognitive Skills During Adolescence: Evidence From A Large Public Works Program, Nader Aboul-Fettouh, Kevin P Lee, Natalie Kash, Kathleen Kroger, Sirunya Silapunt

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Reddit, a popular social media website, has numerous forums where users may discuss healthcare-related topics and request diagnostic and treatment advice for dermatologic conditions. We sought to analyze and grade user-submitted requests for dermatologic advice and their top responses on Reddit.

METHODS: User-submitted posts requesting diagnostic advice and their respective responses on two popular Reddit forums, SkinCareAddiction (ScA) and DermatologyQuestions (DQ), were reviewed by three board-certified dermatologists using a grading rubric designed for this study.

RESULTS: 300 posts and comments were reviewed. Diagnoses among all graders matched in 52.3% of posts with a mean grader confidence score of 4/5 …

A Mixed-Method Study On Social Media’S Role In The Health Decision-Making Practices Of Black Millennial Women In South Florida, Sashah Damier

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to examine health care decision-making practices of Black millennial women in South Florida, based on their social media use. The study contributed to understanding of how cultural components contribute to health care disparities for people of color because health care providers lacked information on how to reach Black millennial women with accurate and helpful information through social media.

The design for the study included a convergent parallel mixed-methods design using a web-based quantitative cross-sectional survey along with embedded qualitative telephone interviews and NVivo software. This mixed-methods methodology provided rich data and new understandings …

Adaptive Cybersecurity Training Framework For Social Media Risks, Fai Ben Salamah

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Social media has become embedded in our everyday lives, personal activities, and the workplace. Thus, educating users on emerging cybersecurity challenges for social media has become imperative. In this project, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted and a mix of approach analyses to derive a framework that identifies the activities involved in adapting cybersecurity training for social media risks. I collected answers from 641 Kuwaiti employees in various sectors: education, healthcare, leadership and management, arts, entertainment, the police, and military, and interviewed 25 people who serve as policymakers, cybersecurity trainers, and those who have experienced cybersecurity training before. The …

A Free Speech-Based Response To Media Polarization, R. George Wright

FIU Law Review

The degree of polarization, distrust, and animosity in the political elements of our social media have reached remarkable levels. But any attempt to address the relevant problems that requires legal enforcement inevitably raises serious issues of free speech and free press. Relying instead on fact checkers has its own numerous, substantial, and inevitable limitations, some of which parallel the very problems sought to be addressed. More promising are political social media reforms, akin to that proposed herein, that are voluntary, generally pluralistic and critical, reflective of the relevant social science evidence, and unlikely to raise problems of free speech and …

Negative Social Media And Its Influence On Athlete's Performance, Bernd R. Huber

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This study aimed to investigate the potential impact of negative social media content on athletes' cortisol levels and subsequent performance. The study focused on the change in cortisol levels and differences in free throw performance, based on previous research findings. We hypothesized that negative social media postings would increase the stress experienced by student-athletes, resulting in elevated cortisol levels and decreased performance. Additionally, participants (n = 8) completed a questionnaire to examine the interaction between preexisting fear and the biological stress response. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant change in stress response, and negative postings did not have …

Social Media Strategies That Lead To Success In The Film Industry, Elisa O'Keefe-Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social media influence is important to movie industry leaders as it directly affects film revenues. The problem is that independent film managers often fail to increase revenues due to limited resources and a lack of social media marketing strategies. Grounded in the conceptual framework of social media marketing management (SMMM), this multiple case study was an exploration of the social media strategies used by independent film managers to increase film revenues. Participants were 10 U.S.-based independent film managers who successfully leveraged social media strategies in the film industry. Data were collected using semistructured interviews, publicly available documentation, data found on …

A Student-Designed Multimodal Sex- And Gender-Based Women's Health Elective Program: Advocacy Curriculum For Medical Students, Lauren M Conroy, Danna Ghafir, Maitreyi Narayan, Hunter Mcspedden, Samuel Neher, S Shahrukh Hashmi, Rebecca Lunstroth

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this article is to describe the design and implementation of a multimodal, student-driven, sex- and gender-based women's health (SGBWH) elective with a curricular focus on patient and legislative advocacy. In this single arm, pre/post design, interventional study, we detail and evaluate the use of social media, newsletters, and round-table discussions in conjunction with a traditional lecture-based educational format to engage medical students in a virtual learning environment.

METHODS: We developed a 22-week SGBWH curriculum for pre-clinical and clinical medical students, which included a series of lectures on multi-specialty and gender-inclusive topics related to SGBWH, small group …

Social Media And The Learning And Engagement Experiences Of Minority Doctoral Students, Denzil O. Barnett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractSocial media as a medium to facilitate and foster learning and engagement in education has received increased attention in recent years. Researchers have highlighted the affordances and drawbacks of social media use in educational contexts. There is a gap in the relevant literature on the social media learning and engagement experiences of doctoral students from underrepresented communities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand minority doctoral students’ experiences and perceptions of social media use in learning and engagement during the doctoral process. To ground this study, the connect learn and engagement (CoLeEn) conceptual framework, based on Siemens’s connectivism …