keyona castleman final paper
TRANSCRIPT
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
1/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 1
Gender Differences and Expression and Support of Depressive Symptoms on Facebook
Keyona Castleman
Loyola University Chicago
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
2/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 2
Abstract
Previous research looked to examine the gender roles and stereotypes found in communication
and support offline. Research also focused on determining disclosure of emotions found on
Online Social Network Sites through the tool of micro-blogging. In this paper the emotional
disclosure found through micro-blogging and the support of Facebook friends is examined by
rating status updates and coding comments and likes to status updates. Results show that
generally happier emotional disclosure is received more positively through likes and comments
than sadder disclosure. Results show that women show sadder emotional disclosure than there
male counterparts on Facebook. Results also showed that while some offline gender stereotypes
are consistent online; there are some that are not significant when users are on Facebook.
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
3/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 3
Gender Differences in Facebook Communication
There are many gender role stereotypes about emotional disclosure and emotional
support. One of the main gender differences is that women are more likely to be predisposed to
having depression than their male counter parts (Essau, Lewinsohn, Seeley, & Sasagawa, 2010).
It is also important to note that in both public and private settings men are less likely to ask for
assistance with their problems than their female counterparts (Addis & Mahalik, 2003). These
pieces of research showed that not only are women more likely to have depression, but they are
also more likely to show warning signs so that they can be helped with their depression. In
general women are seen as the sex that is more helpful; there is a gender stereotype that women
are more compassionate and empathetic (Ruble 1983). The reasons for these differences are that
men and women are socialized differently; men are told to be more masculine and women are
told to be more feminine. However all of these stereotypes and gender roles are specific to the
offline, public sphere of communication.
Online Social Networking Sites were created to allow various forms of interaction to
occur amongst its users. Essentially any form of communication that can occur in the offline
world can occur online; whether it is a romantic interaction, a connection through shared interest,
or more recently there has been the introduction of a form of blogging called micro-blogging.
Micro- blogging, most commonly found on the social media website Twitter, allows its users to
update friends and followers on the happenings of their life at any moment in time using 140
characters or less (Java, Finin, Song, & Tseng, 2007). Facebook, one of the larger online social
media websites uses a variation of micro-blogging for their website called status updates. These
status updates enable users to disclose information about themselves to their family, friends, or
acquaintances no matter how personal or frequent the update may be. Facebook friends have the
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
4/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 4
option of critiquing their friends emotions through commenting or liking a post. These tools
have been able to take communication and expression between males and females to new levels.
Recently there has been research conducted focusing on the importance of micro-
blogging in this technology driven society (Java et al., 2007). Researchers in this study looked at
twitter updates from across the world with the intent of figuring out how and why users use
micro-blogging tools and if there was even a need for this type of communication in society.
Researchers found that micro-blogging is used to share and receive information between users
with similar interests; most twitter updates are conversation updates between users. There is a
sense of community found through these updates. This research was important because it laid
the foundation for examining micro-updates from online social network users. However, this
research was pretty broad and did not explore too many specifics about micro-blogging and
emotional disclosure.
After a foundation had been laid examining the importance of micro-blogging in
communication researchers began exploring emotions found through this new form of
expression. Research has been conducted examining the possible correlations between
emotional disclosures found in Facebook status updates and the presence of depressive
symptoms in users (Moreno, Jelenchick, Egan, Cox, Young, Gannon, & Becker, 2011). The
researchers in this study examined the public Facebook profiles of rising Juniors and Seniors at
the University of Washington for a one-year time period. Researchers coded status updates for
depressive disclosure and when signs of depression were found the status was copied in its
entirety for data purposes. Researchers also looked to determine the type of support that users
received on a depressive status update by counting and copying any comment that seemed to
support the depressed user. Researchers found that Facebook users in the study used the site
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
5/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 5
as a means of indirect emotional disclosure. Status updates were used to journal emotions.
Those that use the site more frequently displayed more status updates that showed depression
symptoms. Finally researchers found that the more that friends commented status updates
showing support, the more often users wrote otherstatus that showed emotion, whether it be
happy or sad. Although this study is able to show possible risk factors for depression that can be
found in Facebook users, there are several weaknesses to this study. The study is limited
because of its use of one college and one specific age group to make generalizes about an entire
population of college students. The study also focused on just one social networking site. This
study was able to build upon the research already found on the importance of micro-blogging
and emotional expression.
In a more recent study, researchers looked to determine the relationship between the
amounts of Facebook friends a user had and emotional disclosure found in status updates
(Manago, Taylor, & Greenfield, 2012). Researchers found that users on Facebook felt more
comfortable disclosing information on when their network of friends was larger. When users felt
that they had an audience that wanted to hear them share their secrets, users felt a level of
intimacy that is sometimes missed in the real world, thus creating a social support system. The
study also showed that when users felt that their support was larger, they displayed more positive
life satisfaction through their status updates. The results in this study may be skewed however,
because the participants in the study volunteered to be apart of the study. These volunteers were
probably more outgoing, which could also mean that they have larger friendship groups than the
average user, meaning that their lives already may have had a higher life satisfaction.
There have also been studies that examined the way that Facebook friends perceived
users status updates. In one particular study, researchers looked to determine the impressions
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
6/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 6
that users wanted to give off and the impressions that they gave off to their Facebook friends
in their status updates (Barash, Ducheneaut, Issacs, & Bellotti, 2010). The study found that more
often than not the emotions that a user wanted to have in a status update is not the way that other
users perceive the status. Often, Facebook friends though that users status updates portrayed
more emotion than the user intended for there to be. These misinterpretations affected if
Facebook friends found the status to be self- approving or self- deprecating. This study also
showed that the perception of the status led to the probability that users either liked or
commented on the status.
Contrary to the previous literature mentioned, there has been research that looked to show
that there might not be a link between emotions and Facebook status updates after all. In one
study researchers focused on Filipino students and found that there was no link between
Facebook and depression found in participants (Datu, Valdez, & Datu, 2012). Researchers
looked at 200 Facebook profiles with the intent on seeing how using Facebook causes users to be
depressed. Although this study showed that there was no causation for one or the other, there are
still significant limitations found within this study, mainly that it focused on one small group of
participants and generalized about and entire sample of users. This piece of literature still
showed relevance because it showed that it wasnt Facebook that made users depressed.
According to this study, whenever users exhibit symptoms of depression it is because of issues
that are specific to that user and not the website itself. Simply put, Facebook does not cause
depression. Although this study claims that there is no linkage between Facebook and
depression, it does not discount the use of Facebook as a means of expressing depressive
feelings.
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
7/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 7
The study used for this article looked to find out if the gender differences found offline in
emotional disclosure and support in the online world were specific with the findings found in the
offline world. Researchers hoped to determine if there were differences amongst men and
women and emotional disclosure found in status updates and support shown by Facebook friends
through comments and likes. The researchers for this study felt that users stayed consistent with
gender norms found offline when they were online. The first hypothesis for the study was that
women would display more depression through their Facebook status updates compared to men.
The second hypothesis was that women would display more supportive behavior toward status
updates that were seen as depressive or sad. This support would be given no matter if a male or
a female Facebook user wrote the status.
Method
Participants
For this study researchers looked at over 400 status updates from a total of 50 Facebook
users. The participants in the study were unaware that they had been chosen for the study and
each user had a public Facebook profile. The participants varied in all demographics including
age, gender, socioeconomic status and race.
Materials
Participant selection. The first step in this study was selecting participants. Participants
for this study were chosen from public Facebook profile list. Experiments chose every fourth
Facebook user until there were 150 participants.
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
8/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 8
Status code for mood. Experimenters then looked at the participants status updates
from January 14th
, 2013 to February 14th
, 2013. When coding for the mood of the status update
experimenters rated the status using a one to five rating scale. A status was given a one if the
status showed depressive tendencies. These status updates included words such as giving up,
hopelessness, and depressed. These status updates also used sad song lyrics or quotes. The
status update was given a two if it seemed to be mildly depressing. These status updates
mentioned having had a long day or being excessively tired. A neutral status update was given a
three. These status updates did not give off an emotion. A status update that discussed
information such as eating or told a quirky joke was given a four and was rated as mildly happy.
Finally a five was given to happy status updates. These updates discussed accomplishments or
specifically said the word happy in the update.
Coding for support via comments. The next test for the study coded for support based on
comments on a status update. When a status had one to three different people commenting the
status had low support. When there were four to six different people commenting on a status it
was listed as having moderate support. Finally, when a status had seven or more different people
commenting the status had strong support.
Coding for support via likes. Finally, researchers coded the status updates for support
based on the number of likes that a status update had. When a status had one to four likes the
status had low support. When the status had five to eight likes the status had moderate support.
When the status had nine or more likes the status had strong support.
Procedure
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
9/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 9
When conducting the experiment, researchers began by assigning a number to the 150
participants of the study. Experimenters also assigned numbers to the status updates that were
specific to each user. When examining each status update, researchers wrote down the rating for
the update, the type of comment support, and the type of like support. The researchers also
tallied the number of male and females to either comment or like the status update. When all of
the status updates had been coded, experimenters changed the type of support from words to
numbers. The low support for the comments and likes were rated with the number three. The
moderate support for the comments and likes were rated with the number two. The strong
support for the comments and likes were rated with the number one.
ResultsDescriptive
A total of 473 Facebook status updates from 150 users of the social media website were
analyzed in an attempt to determine the differences that arise between men and women through
online communication and expression. The 150 participants varied in many ways including but
not limited to, age, race, socioeconomic background, and educational background. Prior to
conducting the study, the experimenters believed that women would be more emotionally
expressive on Facebook compared to men. Meaning that women would more status updates,
depressive status updates, likes and comments compared to the male Facebook users.
Analysis
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
10/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 10
Mean data for status rating. The researchers ran an overall descriptive test on the data
to determine the mean values of the status ratings. This was to compare the total number of
participant ratings, the female participant ratings, and the male participant ratings. The group
with the highest rating was the male group, (M = 3.22). The overall total participants had the
second highest ratings, (M= 3.2). The female participants had the lowest ratings, (M= 3.19).
Refer toFigure 1 for these results.
Total participants. A Pearsons Correlation Test wasperformed to determine whether
there were significant correlations found between status ratings for all the participants and
various aspects of Facebook. The status rating was significantly correlated with frequency of the
comments (r= .108,p < .05). Additionally, the status rating was significantly correlated with
number of female comments made (r= .097,p < .05). Finally, the status rating was significantly
correlated with the frequency of likes a status received (r= .263,p < .01). There was no
significant correlation between rating and number of male comments (r= .063). Overall, the
number of status rating positively correlated with amount of comments the status received, the
number of female comments made, and the amount of likes a status received. Descriptive data
on total participants including mean values and correlations are found in Table. Significant
correlations are visually displayed inFigure 2.
Male participants. Next the focus was switched to the status updates that were made by
male users. There was no significant correlation between the status rating and the number of
female comments made (r= .125). Additionally there was not a significant correlation between
rating and comment frequency (r = .124). Finally there was no correlation between rating and
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
11/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 11
male status updates (r= .062). When focusing on solely the male status updates there was
between the amounts of comments the status received, the number of female comments made,
and the amount of male comments received. This data can be found in Table 2.
Female participants. Finally the focus was switched to the status updates that were
made by female users. There was no significant correlation between the status rating and the
number of female comments made (r= .072). Additionally there was not a significant
correlation between rating and comment frequency (r = .095). Finally there was no correlation
between rating and male status updates (r= .063). When focusing on solely the male status
updates there was between the amounts of comments the status received, the number of female
comments made, and the amount of male comments received. However the data does seem to be
trending toward a significant correlation. This data can be found in Table 3.
Discussion
There are clear gender differences in communication found in the public, offline world.
Women have the stereotype that they communicate their sadder emotions more freely than men;
there is also the stereotype that women are more helpful and emotionally supportive than men.
The purpose of this study was to examine the possible differences that may occur when the
settings for communication was changed to the seemingly more private online sphere of
communication. This study was meant to examine the differences that occur in emotions and
communication between men and women on Facebook. Through the examination of Facebook
status updates, researchers looked to see if there were significant connections between the
emotions shown through a status update and the levels of support, through likes and comments
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
12/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 12
that the user received. There was a component of the research that was meant to examine if there
were any differences that may occur if the user posting the status was male or female.
Prior to the study researchers believed that women would have significantly lower status
ratings throughout the course of the month compared to men, showing that women express
sadness more often on Facebook than men. The study found that women on average express had
lower ratings than their male counterparts. It should be noted that this difference was not
extremely significant. These results were significant because they showed that the emotional
disclosure gender stereotype was consistent in the online realm of communication. It should be
noted that there were more status updates made by women than men during the month of the
study; this fact could be a possible reason results may be skewed. Seeing that women had a
higher amount of status updates also plays a part in this study because it just shows that women
have more of a comfort in expressing themselves compared to men. These results were inline
with the first hypothesis made stating that women would have more depressing status updates
than men.
The researchers hoped to see if there was any possible connection between status ratings
and the ways in which individuals expressed their support to the user. When examining the total
number of participants, researchers found that the higher the status was rated, the more
comments the status received. The data also showed that the higher the status was rated, there
was a higher number in female comments, male comments, and total number of likes. This
finding helps to show that no matter the gender of the viewer, men and women both look to
support happier emotions. This finding could be a testament to what the Facebook support
outlets actually mean. It could be possible that there is a certain connotation with the act of
liking or commenting a sadder status update. These results could mean that it is in bad taste
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
13/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 13
to support a status that shows an expression of sadder emotions and users dont feel comfortable
taking that risk. The data showed a stronger correlation between women and supporting status
updates, showing that women are more comfortable with communicating ideas and emotions.
This was inline with the hypothesis that women would show more emotional support than men.
Researchers then split the participants up by gender and looked to see if emotional
support differed depending on whether or not the status update came from a man or a woman.
Researchers found that when there was a status update made by a man, there was no significant
connection between his rating for a status and the amount support he received through likes,
comments as a whole, and comments from males or females. These results also where found
when examining a status written by a female Facebook user. The original thought when
collecting these sets of data was that men and women would show support differently depending
on the gender of the person writing the status update. These results contradict the idea that men
are not a supportive gender. The original idea with the women was that there would always be a
correlation between status rating (no matter the users gender) and womens support. This wasnt
found. These findings show that some of the stereotypes discussing helping behavior and gender
could potentially be wrong or not relevant in the online world.
Implications
These results can be used to help Facebook administrators create tools that help friends
obtain help when they feel that their friends are depressed. These results show that Facebook
users know how to perceive depression through status updates and online behavior. It would be
beneficial to create an easy access tool so that friends are able to easily able to report a series of
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
14/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 14
depressing status updates to the proper authorities. A tool like this has the potential to reduce the
tragic events surrounding depression and Facebook.
A tool can also be created that screens Facebook status postings for potential trigger
words that express possible symptoms of depression. This tool would take the responsibility out
of the hands of Facebook friends and into the hands of Facebook administrators. These results
show that depression is being expressed through status updates, therefore, there should be tools
that highlight the depression symptoms and help protect the users.
These results may also be used in schools to help examine when students are either cyber
bullying or are being cyber bullied. School should find ways to screen students status updates
and comments for words or expressions that are consistent with bullying and being bullied.
Students express their feelings on Facebook and this research can help students feel protected
when using online social media.
Connection to Past Literature
The findings in this study are consistent with the previous finding that users use the
micro-blogging tool to express their emotions and to support their friends emotional expression
(Java et al., 2007; Moreno et al., 2011; Manago et al., 2012). Much of the reported previous
research focused primarily on the emotional expression and support that occurred on Facebook
rather than what that support actually meant (Barash et al., 2010). This study expanded that and
looked to show that when there was a happier update there was more support found for the status
update. Finally, this study stayed consistent with the previous findings found on gender roles
and differences (Ruble 1983; Addis et al., 2003;Essau et al., 2010). Essentially what this study
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
15/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 15
did was take a number of past finding on gender roles and differences and add to them by adding
the online world to a sphere of communication.
Limitations
One of the major limitations that this study has is that the researchers conducting the
study interpreted the ratings. This limitation is important because this allows the researchers to
place there own bias ideas on the ratings that the participants not actually be experiencing.
Another limitation that is found with this study is the timing of the studies analysis period. The
study is a month long during not only the beginning of winter, but for some participants, the
beginning of a new school semester; some of the lower status ratings may not be actual
depression, rather a sign of the time of year. These status updates could be a testament of the
weather and of a period of time when Seasonal Affective Disorder is high and not truly
depression. To determine true depressive tendency participants should be examined for longer
than a months time. Another piece of information to consider is that this study only uses
Facebook as a website to review, it would be interesting to see if these results are consistent with
other online social media websites that use micro-blogging such as Twitter or Tumblr.
Future Research
Suggestions for future research include extending the studys time length to at least a 6-
month time span. It honestly would be best to have the study take place over years rather than
over months to ensure that results are actually consistent with depression. Another significant
change for the study eliminating the researcher bias and placing more importance on the
participants actual feelings and not on how the researcher perceives them to be. One way this
can be accomplished is by having participants fill out surveys prior to the study examining their
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
16/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 16
current depressive behaviors. This is could be done by using DSM criteria surveys. As the study
progresses the participants will fill out another survey to access their feelings during the study
and another once the study has ended. These surveys serve the purpose of creating a more
holistic look at the participant. A big reason why a lot of focus is being placed on creating a
more reliable rating system is because these numbers are the main components in determining if
there is truly a correlation between user expression and the support that they get from their online
community.
Conclusion
In conclusion the information found in this study provides great insight on just how
effective online communities can be. Todays Facebook users are using the Facebook status tool
as a method of public journaling; there are true, authentic feelings being shared by users at any
moment of the day. This provides researchers the opportunity to continue to access the validity
of gender norms and stereotypes associated with communication, emotional disclosure and
emotional support.
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
17/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 17
References
Addis, M. E., & Mahalik, J. R. (2003). Men, masculinity, and the contexts of help seeking.
American psychologist, 58(1), 5-14.
Barash, V., Ducheneaut, N., Isaacs, E., & Bellotti, V. (2010). Faceplant: Impression (mis)
management in Facebook status updates.Proc. ICWSM 2010.
Essau, C., Lewinsohn, P. M., Seeley, J., & Sasagawa, S. (2010). Gender differences in the
developmental course of depression.Journal of Affective Disorders
Datu, J. A. D., Valdez, J. P., & Datu, N. (2012). Does Facebooking make us sad? Hunting
relationship between Facebook use and depression among Filipino adolescents.
International Journal of Research Studies in Educational Technology, 1(2).
Java, A., Song, X., Finin, T., & Tseng, B. (2007, August). Why we twitter: understanding
microblogging usage and communities. InProceedings of the 9th WebKDD and 1st SNA-
KDD 2007 workshop on Web mining and social network analysis (pp. 56-65). ACM.
Manago, A. M., Taylor, T., & Greenfield, P. M. (2012). Me and My 400 Friends: The Anatomy
of College Students' Facebook Networks, Their Communication Patterns, and Weil-
Being.Developmental psychology, 48(2), 369.
Moreno, M. A., Jelenchick, L. A., Egan, K. G., Cox, E., Young, H., Gannon, K. E., & Becker, T.
(2011). Feeling bad on Facebook: Depression disclosures by college students on a social
networking site.Depression and anxiety, 28(6), 447-455.
Ruble, T. L. (1983). Sex stereotypes: Issues of change in the 1970s. Sex roles, 9(3), 397-402.
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
18/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 18
Table 1
Minimum, Maximum, Means, Standard Deviation, and
Correlation with Status Rating for Participants
Number
of status
updates
Minimum Maximum Mean Standard
Deviation
Correlation
(Pearsons
r)
Rating 473 1 5 3.20 1.176 1
Comment
Frequency
473 0 252.45 2.898
.108
Female
Comments
473 0 15 1.33 1.884 .097*
Male
Comments
473 0 10 1.09 1.09 .063
Like
Frequency
473 0 43 7.64 6.513 .263
Male likes 473 0 20 2.78 2.844
Female
Likes
473 0 29 4.78 4.724
Note. A higher rating indicated a happier status update.
* = Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level
** = Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
19/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 19
Table 2
Minimum, Maximum, Means, Standard Deviation, and
Correlation with Status Rating for Male Participants
Number
of status
updates
Minimum Maximum Mean Standard
Deviation
Correlation
Rating 200 1 5 3.22 1.130 1
Comment
Frequency
200 0 25 2.81 3.450 .124
Female
Comments
200
0 15 1.55 2.305
.125
Male
Comments
200
0 10 1.26 1.484
.062
Note. A higher rating indicated a happier status update.
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
20/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 20
Table 3
Minimum, Maximum, Means, Standard Deviation, and
Correlation with Status Rating for Female Participants
Number
of status
updates
Minimum Maximum Mean Standard
Deviation
Correlation
Rating 273 1 5 3.19 1 1
Comment
Frequency
2730 11 2.18 2.388
.095
Female
Comments
273
0 7 1.17 1.488
.072
Male
Comments
273
0 7 .97 1.261
.063
Note. A higher rating indicated a happier status update.
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
21/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 21
3.175
3.18
3.185
3.19
3.195
3.2
3.205
3.21
3.215
3.22
3.225
Total Female Male
MeanStatusRatings
Condition Group
Figure 1. Mean values for status rating comparing the total
paticipants, female, and male participants
Rating
-
7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper
22/22
GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 22
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
Frequency of
comments
Frequency of Likes Female Comments
CorrelationVa
lues
Significant correlations
Figure 2. Significant correlation values between status rating and
comment frequency, like frequency, and female comments.
Correlation value