scholarly journals FACE-TO-FACE AND FACEBOOK ACROSS THE LIFESPAN: SOCIAL INTERACTIONS BUFFER STRESS ON MOOD, BUT ONLY FOR ADOLESCENTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S694-S695
Author(s):  
Yin Liu ◽  
Elizabeth B Fauth ◽  
Myles Maxey ◽  
Troy Beckert
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Stress Reactivity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Developmental Differences ◽  
Stress Appraisal ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Social support serves as a protective factor, buffering stress in both adolescents and adults, however Socioemotional Selectivity Theory suggests developmental differences in stress reactivity and social support. It is unclear how modern forms of social contact, such as social media buffer stress, and the extent to which this differs across the lifespan. We utilized ecological momentary data to examine the moderating effects of age and two distinct types of social contacts the person had experienced in prior hours (frequency of face-to-face, or social media contacts) on the association between daily stress and momentary mood. Participants were recruited initially through Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk (adolescents referred by a parent). A total of 119 adolescent (n = 44; Agemean= 15.73) and middle-aged/older adult participants (n = 75; Agemean= 59.67) provided momentary data three times a day, on three consecutive days, every two weeks, for up to 12 weeks. Multi-level models showed significant 3-way interactions between stress appraisal of avoiding an argument, age group, and frequency of social contact via face-to-face (β = 1.698, se = 0.542, p = .002) and social media (β = 3.341, se = 0.984, p = .001). Older adults experienced better mood than adolescents. When avoiding an argument was appraised as more stressful, both age groups displayed worse mood. Whereas high levels of recent social contact (both face-to-face and social media) seemed to exacerbate the impact of this stressor on poorer mood for older persons, high levels of recent social contact, particularly social media, had stress-buffering benefits for adolescents.

scholarly journals Mental distress among young adults – gender differences in the role of social support

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rune Johansen ◽  
Mari Nicholls Espetvedt ◽  
Heidi Lyshol ◽  
Jocelyne Clench-Aas ◽  
Ingri Myklestad
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Sense Of Coherence ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Mental Distress ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Regular Physical Activity

Abstract Background The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent observed gender differences in mental health are associated with the protective factors social support, sense of coherence and participation in regular physical activity and more generally, engagement in organized or unorganized activity with other people. Methods This study was based upon a cross-sectional regional health survey in Norway, conducted during the winter of 2015–2016, in three southern counties; Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder and Vestfold. The study focused on young adults, comparing three age groups; 18–24 years old (n = 624), 25–31 (n = 582), and 32–38 years old (n = 795). Results Sense of coherence was strongly associated with low mental distress in all age groups and for both genders, while the association between low social support and mental distress was significant for young women only. Regular physical activity was not positively associated with low mental distress when sense of coherence and social support were included in the analysis. Conclusion Social support appears to have a stronger role as a protective factor for mental distress among young women, compared to young men and older persons. This has implications for health promoting activities that target young women. Sense of coherence showed a strong association with low mental distress scores for all ages studied.

Social Media Escapism: Exploratory Study of the use of Digital Media by Tirana University Students of English Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-211
Author(s):  
Iris Klosi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
State University ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Impact

The stress and anxiety resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has lead to a significant increase in escapist media-based coping. This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on social media escapist activities by the students at the State University of Tirana. In total 52 undergraduate and graduate students aged 20-24 were involved in the study. The students reported 39 digital media involved in their escapist activities, with media sharing networks having a dominant role. From the analysis of their discussion of the motivations and different forms of escapist activities using social media, 5 different but interrelated discourses emerged: (1) Social media have both positive and negative aspects; (2) Social media escapism distorts reality; (3) Social media offer easy and affordable ways to escape; (4) Social media escapism needs to be managed to avoid addiction; and (5) Social media escapism enhances English language skills. The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic through restrictions on socializing, face-to-face interaction and online teaching were discussed within and across the identified discourses. Increasing their communicative competence in English while interacting with people of different cultural background, including English native speakers was one of most the positive aspects in students’ discussions of social media escapism. The stress and anxiety resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has lead to a significant increase in escapist media-based coping. This paper examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on social media escapist activities by the students at the State University of Tirana. In total 52 undergraduate and graduate students aged 20-24 were involved in the study. The students reported 39 digital media involved in their escapist activities, with media sharing networks having a dominant role. From the analysis of their discussion of the motivations and different forms of escapist activities using social media, 5 different but interrelated discourses emerged: (1) Social media have both positive and negative aspects; (2) Social media escapism distorts reality; (3) Social media offer easy and affordable ways to escape; (4) Social media escapism needs to be managed to avoid addiction; and (5) Social media escapism enhances English language skills. The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic through restrictions on socializing, face-to-face interaction and online teaching were discussed within and across the identified discourses. Increasing their communicative competence in English while interacting with people of different cultural background, including English native speakers was one of most the positive aspects in students’ discussions of social media escapism.

Social Media

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-68
Author(s):  
Elham Mohammadi ◽  
Azam Masoumi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Modern Technologies

This chapter examines the path of human interaction by using modern technologies. There are two sides: those in favor of using modern technologies and those who argue that modern technologies have unwanted, detrimental effects on people's lives and health. This chapter explores virtual communication's properties. It focuses on the impact that using social media instead of face-to-face interaction has on the users' health, specifically mental health. In this viewpoint, social media is not an alternative to face-to-face interaction but a complementary device that reminds us the vitality of interaction even with those who are physically unavailable to us.

scholarly journals All in this together? Austerity and the gender-age gap in the 2015 and 2017 British general elections

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sanders ◽  
Rosalind Shorrocks
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Younger Women ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Household Finances ◽  
Age Gap ◽  
General Elections ◽  
The Impact

The 2010–2015 Conservative-led Coalition’s austerity policies hit women financially harder than men. However, contrary to expectations at the time, the Conservatives still gained more support from women than men on average in the 2015 general election. We examine the impact of austerity on vote choice in the 2015 and 2017 general elections through analysis of Labour and Conservative economic policy in conjunction with data from the British Election Study’s face-to-face post-election surveys. The expectation that women should be particularly anti-austerity and thus less supportive of the Conservative Party does hold for younger women, who were especially pessimistic relative to their male peers and older age groups about their living costs, household finances, the economy, and the National Health Service in both elections. However, this does not hold for older women, who were protected by the Coalition’s policies on pensions and were more similar to men in their assessment of their economic situation.

scholarly journals Study design and protocol for investigating social network patterns in rural and urban schools and households in a coastal setting in Kenya using wearable proximity sensors

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moses Chapa Kiti ◽  
Alessia Melegaro ◽  
Ciro Cattuto ◽  
David James Nokes
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Respiratory Infections ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Contact Patterns ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Syncytial Virus ◽  
The Impact

Background: Social contact patterns shape the transmission of respiratory infections spread via close interactions. There is a paucity of observational data from schools and households, particularly in developing countries. Portable wireless sensors can record unbiased proximity events between individuals facing each other, shedding light on pathways of infection transmission. Design and methods: The aim is to characterize face-to-face contact patterns that may shape the transmission of respiratory infections in schools and households in Kilifi, Kenya. Two schools, one each from a rural and urban area, will be purposively selected. From each school, 350 students will be randomly selected proportional to class size and gender to participate. Nine index students from each school will be randomly selected and followed-up to their households. All index household residents will be recruited into the study. A further 3-5 neighbouring households will also be recruited to give a maximum of 350 participants per household setting. The sample size per site is limited by the number of sensors available for data collection. Each participant will wear a wireless proximity sensor lying on their chest area for 7 consecutive days. Data on proximal dyadic interactions will be collected automatically by the sensors only for participants who are face-to-face. Key characteristics of interest include the distribution of degree and the frequency and duration of contacts and their variation in rural and urban areas. These will be stratified by age, gender, role, and day of the week. Expected results: Resultant data will inform on social contact patterns in rural and urban areas of a previously unstudied population. Ensuing data will be used to parameterize mathematical simulation models of transmission of a range of respiratory viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus, and used to explore the impact of intervention measures such as vaccination and social distancing.

scholarly journals Indigenous Australian household structure: a simple data collection tool and implications for close contact transmission of communicable diseases

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiripura Vino ◽  
Gurmeet R. Singh ◽  
Belinda Davison ◽  
Patricia T. Campbell ◽  
Michael J. Lydeamore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Social Contact ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
Household Structure ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Indigenous Australian ◽  
Different Populations ◽  
The Impact

Households are an important location for the transmission of communicable diseases. Social contact between household members is typically more frequent, of greater intensity, and is more likely to involve people of different age groups than contact occurring in the general community. Understanding household structure in different populations is therefore fundamental to explaining patterns of disease transmission in these populations. Indigenous populations in Australia tend to live in larger households than non-Indigenous populations, but limited data are available on the structure of these households, and how they differ between remote and urban communities. We have developed a novel approach to the collection of household structure data, suitable for use in a variety of contexts, which provides a detailed view of age, gender, and room occupancy patterns in remote and urban Australian Indigenous households. Here we report analysis of data collected using this tool, which quantifies the extent of crowding in Indigenous households, particularly in remote areas. We use these data to generate matrices of age-specific contact rates, as used by mathematical models of infectious disease transmission. To demonstrate the impact of household structure, we use a mathematical model to simulate an influenza-like illness in different populations. Our simulations suggest that outbreaks in remote populations are likely to spread more rapidly and to a greater extent than outbreaks in non-Indigenous populations.

scholarly journals Cross-Sectional Associations Between Lifetime Use of Psychedelic Drugs and Psychometric Measures During the COVID-19 Confinement: A Transcultural Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dóra Révész ◽  
Genís Ona ◽  
Giordano N. Rossi ◽  
Juliana M. Rocha ◽  
Rafael G. dos Santos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Drug Users ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Psychedelic Drugs ◽  
Psychedelic Drug ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal ◽  
The Impact

Background: One of the main public health strategies adopted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic consisted of implementing strict lockdowns to stop the transmission of the virus. Despite being an effective measure, the confinement and the associated social isolation create a stressful, potentially lengthy situations that has been proven to have several psychological consequences. Given the potential benefits that certain psychedelic drugs have shown for the treatment of psychological disorders, this study aimed to assess the impact of lifetime psychedelic drug use on mental health in relation to the first strict lockdown adopted by various countries (April-July 2020).Methods: Subjects completed an online survey that inquired about sociodemographic factors, activities, and lifestyle factors during confinement, as well as health and mental health related factors. Subjects were asked about their lifetime use of psychedelic drugs (MDMA, ayahuasca, psilocybin-containing mushrooms, LSD, peyote, San Pedro, Bufo alvarius or 5-MeO-DMT, and others), being classified as regular users (more than once per 6 months), occasional users, or non-users. The survey included psychometric tests used to assess psychological distress, peritraumatic stress, social support, psychopathological symptoms, and personality. Linear regressions were performed with psychedelic drug users as the independent variable and psychometric factors as the outcomes, while correcting for age, gender, language, religion, spirituality, and use of non-psychedelic drugs.Results: The study included 2,974 English, Portuguese, and Spanish speakers (497 regular users of psychedelic drugs, 606 occasional users, and 1,968 non-users). On average, respondents were 36 years old and 70% were female. Psychedelic drug users, especially regular ones, reported less psychological distress, less peritraumatic stress, and more social support. Regarding personality measures, psychedelic drug users scored higher on the novelty-seeking and self-transcendence scales, and lower on cooperativeness.Conclusion: Our findings showed that regular users of psychedelic drugs had less psychological stress and some personality differences when compared to occasional users and non-users. This suggests that either the use of psychedelics might be a protective factor itself or people with certain previous traits are more prone to frequently using psychedelic drugs. Future prospective longitudinal research should investigate the underlying processes observed in this study to develop consistent hypotheses.

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