Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Media Told Me I Have A Mental Illness, Kathleen Knarreborg

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Objective: This study assessed and addressed the attitudes and behaviors towards mental health information on social media, specifically regarding how it influences viewers behaviors and attitudes relating to mental health. Method: Using a quantitative research design, the study collected data through Qualtrics from a 15 question survey called the Mental Health Information Scale (MHI). The survey, distributed across several social media platforms, aimed to understand user attitudes and engagement with mental health content into three dimensions: stigma, self-diagnosis, and confidence in the validity of the content. Findings: There were 99 participants in this study, 69.9% female, 21.4% male. The factor …

Mental Help-Seeking: Barriers Among African Americans: The Role Of Technology In Addressing Those Barriers, Charneka Edwards

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The topic of mental health among the African American community is not often examined on its own, despite nuanced differences contributing to their reluctance to seek mental health services. The study is to examine, through data collection, the various barriers that have contributed to the prevention and reluctance of African Americans regarding mental health help-seeking, and how technology can circumvent those barriers. African Americans make up 12% of the US population and, of the 47 million who identified as African American, only 8.6% sought traditional mental health services, while 56% reported underutilizing mental health services in the United States due …

The Patriarchy Becomes That Girl: Tiktok And The Mediatization Of Hegemonic Femininity, Irene Molinar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

With the advancement of digital and social media come innovative forms of self-expression and creativity. This M.A. thesis manuscript studies how content creators on the fast-growing social media platform, TikTok, arrange aesthetics, trends, and discourse to promote self-care through hegemonic beauty and wellness standards while empowering themselves through postfeminist sensibilities. Much like early beauty standards set by social media applications such as Instagram, TikTok (along with its algorithm and users) is (re)defining femininity by asking women to look at reexamine their appearance and mentalities to better themselves internally for the sake of self-improvement. Trends such as That Girl illustrate lifestyles …

The Impact Of Social Media Use On Social Isolation And Mental Health Among Young Adults, Mariana Romo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Social media use has become part of the everyday routines of society. It is very common to see people, especially young adults, be involved in more than one social media platform. It is also known that because of the features of social media less in-person interactions are required, which brings up the question of whether people feel more lonely or socially isolated with the increased use of social media platforms. Due to this increasing attachment to the use of social media and its possible relationship with social isolation and loneliness it is important to understand if there are any implications …

College-Aged Student’S Perspective Of Sexual Violence Via Social Media Usage, Emily Bautista, Marijane Garcia

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Sexual violence is of significant concern on college campuses. Concurrently, college aged students regularly use social media platforms as socializing agents. Little is known concerning the influence of social media usage on the way college students perceive sexual violence. Feminist theories were used to conceptualize ideas involving perceptions of sexual violence. This research used quantitative measures to examine the influence of social media usage on college-aged students’ perspectives of sexual violence as measured by consent attitudes. Data was obtained from Reddit users. Correlation analysis found a relationship between hours spent per day on social media and positive attitudes toward establishing …

The Influence Of Social Media On Murder, Brandy Jones

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research contains information on how much or if at all social media influences murder. Social media has such a big impact on the lives of many around the world, it is almost impossible to avoid. There is research on how social media effects brain processes and may even cause addiction. And there is research on why people commit murder, but there is little to no research on the role social media can play in some murders. Social media is almost like an alternate universe where people can pretend to be the people they want to be in real life, …

Social Media's Influence On Young Adults From The Perspectives Of Mental Health Clinicians, Natalie Aliana Valdepeña, Ulises Ivan Lozano

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Social Workers make up a significant portion of mental health clinicians providing services to clients or young adults, and in today’s day and age, the popularity of social media use is increasing within the young adult population. Young adults spend hours on end on many different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and/or Snapchat. Therefore, this study asks, what are clinician’s perspectives about social media influencing young adults with mental health concerns? This study utilized a qualitative, content analysis approach in interviewing clinicians to draw from their experience with clients who have used and interacted with social media.

This …