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The research study that I conducted is on perceived stigma in interracial/interethnic couples and its impact on family relationships. With the growing number of interracial/interethnic couples in the United States and the current climate regarding racism in United States, I am interested in examining how the stigma that interracial couples

The research study that I conducted is on perceived stigma in interracial/interethnic couples and its impact on family relationships. With the growing number of interracial/interethnic couples in the United States and the current climate regarding racism in United States, I am interested in examining how the stigma that interracial couples face impacts their relationship satisfaction and quality, as well as their relationship with family members. The study examines perceived stigma both internalized and experienced among individuals who have felt racially discriminated because of their interracial relationship by their family and their partner's family. Thus, the current study focused on whether perceived stigma in interracial couples impacts their family relationships which ultimately is associated with their relationship satisfaction.

ContributorsHernandez, Citlalli (Author) / Mickelson, Kristin (Thesis director) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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This study investigated reasons for romantic dissolution in 235 participants, ranging from 18-55 years of age, who had experienced a breakup in the past 12 months. Through an online survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk, participants were asked to briefly describe their relationship, then rate how true a variety of statements

This study investigated reasons for romantic dissolution in 235 participants, ranging from 18-55 years of age, who had experienced a breakup in the past 12 months. Through an online survey on Amazon Mechanical Turk, participants were asked to briefly describe their relationship, then rate how true a variety of statements were in regards to the characteristics of their relationship. Participants were then asked to rate how much each characteristic contributed as a reason for their breakup. Pairwise Pearson correlations were used to determine the variance in breakup factors with participant age. A significant positive correlation was found between age and participants attributing their breakup to a lack of intimacy, demonstrating that older participants were more likely to attribute their breakups to this factor. A marginally significant negative correlation was found between age and loss of independence as a reason for dissolution, showing that younger participants were more likely to attribute their breakup to losing their independence than were older participants. The correlation between age and participants' attributing breakups to a partner cheating was marginally significant, such that older participants were more likely to attribute their breakup to cheating than were younger participants. Due to the lack of significant correlations found between the 15 coded breakup factors and age, it was determined that age does not have a major effect on what factors may lead partners to end a romantic relationship.
ContributorsGrassel, Savannah (Author) / Shiota, Lani (Thesis director) / Ha, Thao (Committee member) / Yee, Claire (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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Given the emergence of social media over the past decade and its popularity with adolescents, understanding its impact on this population is crucial to investigate. The purpose of this thesis was to identify potential links between social media use, identity formation, self-esteem, and social comparison motives. The first hypothesis proposed

Given the emergence of social media over the past decade and its popularity with adolescents, understanding its impact on this population is crucial to investigate. The purpose of this thesis was to identify potential links between social media use, identity formation, self-esteem, and social comparison motives. The first hypothesis proposed a positive association between passive social media use and identity moratorium, diffusion, and distress. The second hypothesis suggested self-esteem would mediate this relationship. The final hypothesis posited that the social comparison motives of self-destruction and self-evaluation would exacerbate negative influences of social media use on self-esteem and identity, while self-enhancement and self-improvement motives would buffer them. Two studies were conducted, one observational with 568 participants and one experimental with 15 participants. The first study found active social media use significantly predicted identity diffusion and distress, whereas the second study determined passive social media use led to identity distress. Self-esteem was not found to mediate either relationship. Finally, self-destruction, self-enhancement, self-evaluation, and self-improvement all had differing moderating effects on social media use and the distinct identity outcomes and self-esteem. These results introduce a new concern for late adolescents still developing their identities who utilize social media, as having an online presence can further impede commitment to an identity.
ContributorsCaldera, Karla (Author) / Mickelson, Kristin D (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / DeLay, Dawn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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The current dissertation focused on the risks and rewards of the digital context in adolescent romantic relationships. Adolescent romantic relationships are a pivotal developmental milestone and a foundation for future relationship functioning. Thus, it is vital to understand how adolescents function within their romantic relationships to identify potential intervention points

The current dissertation focused on the risks and rewards of the digital context in adolescent romantic relationships. Adolescent romantic relationships are a pivotal developmental milestone and a foundation for future relationship functioning. Thus, it is vital to understand how adolescents function within their romantic relationships to identify potential intervention points that can improve adolescents’ relationship skills. Adolescents frequently utilize technology within their relationships, with positive and negative implications. Thus, the digital context is an important area of research for adolescent romantic relationship functioning. The neo-ecological theory and the transformation framework help contextualize the digital context's impact on adolescent romantic relationships. The first study utilized two experiments to test the effects of an adolescent’s romantic partner hypothetically ”liking” a digital relationship threat’s Instagram post on their feelings of jealousy and digital dating abuse behaviors. Adolescents reported greater feelings of jealousy and engagement in digital dating abuse behaviors when their romantic partner “liked” a post from a different-gendered individual, and effects were exacerbated when that individual was high on attractiveness. While the digital context may serve as a risk context for adolescent relationships, the risk conferred may depend on the couple's functioning. Thus, the second study examined how sexting among adolescent couples was associated with their daily affect. Results demonstrate that while sexting may boost an adolescent’s affect on the same day, it is related to worse affect as the days pass. Lastly, the digital context can also be an external stressor that impacts the relationship. Thus, the third study examined how daily digital stress exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with late adolescent romantic couples’ substance use and mental health. This study examined actor and partner effects to assess the dyadic nature of stress contagion between romantic partners. This dissertation advances the current literature on associations between the digital context, adolescent development, and adolescent romantic relationship functioning.
ContributorsQuiroz, Selena (Author) / Ha, Thao (Thesis advisor) / Corbin, William R (Committee member) / McNeish, Daniel (Committee member) / Iida, Masumi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
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People express themselves differently on social media than in physical life. Some seem as if they were a different person on social media than offline. However, little research has tested whether the perceived similarity between offline and social media contexts is linked to psychological well-being. Whether people perceive themselves as

People express themselves differently on social media than in physical life. Some seem as if they were a different person on social media than offline. However, little research has tested whether the perceived similarity between offline and social media contexts is linked to psychological well-being. Whether people perceive themselves as similar between offline and social media contexts may contribute to understanding the links between social media use and psychological well-being. This dissertation addresses whether people perceive themselves as the same on social media as offline (Studies 1 and 2), whether this perceived similarity is linked to psychological well-being (Study 2), and the potential role of generation (Study 2)—focusing on comparisons between digital “natives” (Generation Z) and “immigrants” (Baby Boomers) who show different patterns of social media use. Across two studies of college student and online samples, participants completed measures of the Big Five personality traits specified for offline and social media contexts. Study 2 participants further completed measures of psychological well-being (e.g., depression, life satisfaction, self-esteem) and submitted records of their logged mobile phone use. Findings showed that across generations, people tend to view themselves as similar between offline and social media contexts but not the same in terms of their personality traits. Boomers actually perceived themselves as more similar between offline and social media than Gen Z, even when controlling for logged mobile phone use. Perceived similarity between offline and social media selves was not linked positively to psychological well-being (and there were small generation differences whereby the link appeared to be more negative in Gen Z relative to Boomers). The expectation that perceived similarity between offline and social media should be linked to positive outcomes in terms of psychological well-being may not apply to the context of social media, particularly for Gen Z. Studying psychology in offline and social media contexts separately and jointly will be important to understand the social well-being of the emerging digital world.
ContributorsBunker, Cameron (Author) / Kwan, Virginia (Thesis advisor) / Varnum, Michael (Committee member) / Kenrick, Douglas (Committee member) / Ha, Thao (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
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The term “friend zone” has been used in various areas of social media and pop culture to define a situation where one individual covets a relationship with a close friend that never evolves; typically the situation includes a male seeking a potential romantic partner with a female. Although friendship is

The term “friend zone” has been used in various areas of social media and pop culture to define a situation where one individual covets a relationship with a close friend that never evolves; typically the situation includes a male seeking a potential romantic partner with a female. Although friendship is often viewed in a positive format and sometimes the foundation of a healthy relationship, this term has been stigmatized as an unfortunate situation and counterproductive to obtaining a fulfilling relationship.

To approach the multi-faceted concern of friend zone phenomena and the many areas damaging messages that occur, my thesis starts with the history of friend zone phenomena, establishing a definition of friend zone phenomena for future scholars. Next literature on friendship and love, and Galician’s work used for both the methodology and theoretical framework is introduced leading to the analysis. The methodology and theoretical framework for the analysis uses Mary-Lou Galician’s 7-Step-Reality-Check-Up, twelve Myths social media promoted as the preferred reading and the Twelve Prescriptions (Rxs) for Getting Real About Romance. Resources on the discourses of gender performativity, psychology, and sociology are also included in the theoretical framework.

I start with an introduction to retrograde misogyny, The Manosphere (including The Red Pill [TRP]), the Elliot Rodger case and rape culture. This initial segment is analyzed differently from the other texts to describe the crux of social justice issues within friend zone phenomena. I then analyze 10 online memes related to friend zone phenomena. Lastly, I analyze Jet and Star’s new book, How to Get out of the Friend Zone –their book is a textual version of the advice they give on their YouTube channel.

Throughout all the texts Myths 5 (Physical Attraction), 6 (Man = Stronger), and 13 (No Cross-Sexual Friends) were all proposed as the preferred reading. Myth 14 (Men Want Sex/Women Want Money) was prevalent across the memes and TRP/Rational Male. All four myths are laden with gender performativity with damaging perceptions of healthy and respectful relationships. Additional research on friend zone phenomena in the form of interviews and surveys is recommended as research is still sparse.
ContributorsMichael, Cherish Krista (Author) / Elenes, C. Alejandra (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Murphy-Erfani, Julie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
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The “filter bubble” has been a heated discussion topic since several years ago. In addition to possible algorithmic contribution to this phenomenon, people’s selective exposure tendency may be another primary cause of the “filter bubble” on social media. Prior research indicates that, under the influence of selective exposure tendency, people

The “filter bubble” has been a heated discussion topic since several years ago. In addition to possible algorithmic contribution to this phenomenon, people’s selective exposure tendency may be another primary cause of the “filter bubble” on social media. Prior research indicates that, under the influence of selective exposure tendency, people tend to perceive pro-attitudinal news as more credible than counter-attitudinal news, with strong partisans more likely to be affected. The proposed thesis seeks to examine whether the perceived credibility of a news source and story on social media is influenced by selective exposure and strength of partisanship. Through an experimental study via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, 468 participants chose or were assigned to read an ostensible news story from a social media feed with the news source and ideological slant varied between participants. The results showed that people reported higher perceived source and story credibility when the source and stories were pro-attitudinal (consistent with their political ideology) as opposed to counter-attitudinal, regardless of participants’ age, race, perceived credibility of news from social media, in general, and strength of partisanship. However, contrary to the hypotheses, selective exposure behavior (i.e., choosing a preferred news source before reading a news story) did not affect credibility perceptions when participants read counter-attitudinal news from a pro-attitudinal source. Last, strength of partisanship did not moderate the influence of selective exposure on credibility perceptions. In sum, this study suggests that although selective exposure tendency may affect people’s credibility perceptions and contribute to “filter bubbles,” the impact of selective exposure behavior may be overestimated in terms of perceived source and story credibility of news on social media.
ContributorsLiu, Xingyu (Author) / Mickelson, Kristin D (Thesis advisor) / Hall, Deborah (Committee member) / Walker, Shawn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020