Keyona Castleman Final Paper

7/30/2019 Keyona Castleman Final Paper

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GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 1

Gender Differences and Expression and Support of Depressive Symptoms on Facebook

Keyona Castleman

Loyola University Chicago


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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.


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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


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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


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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


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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.


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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.


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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


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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.


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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.


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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


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Table 2


Correlation with Status Rating for Male Participants

Number

of status

updates


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



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Table 3


Correlation with Status Rating for Female Participants

Number

of status

updates


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



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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


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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

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