GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION

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.

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 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

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 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 microblogging 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

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 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 other status 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.

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 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

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 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.

Results Descriptive 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 to Figure 1 for these results. Total participants. A Pearsons Correlation Test was performed 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 in Figure 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

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 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

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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 6month 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.

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND EXPRESSION 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 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 differences in the

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microblogging usage and communities. In Proceedings of the 9th WebKDD and 1st SNAKDD 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 WeilBeing. 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 Rating Comment Frequency Female Comments Male Comments Like Frequency Male likes Female Likes 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 473 473 0 0 20 29 2.78 4.78 2.844 4.724 473 0 43 7.64 6.513 .263** 473 0 10 1.09 1.09 .063 473 0 15 1.33 1.884 .097* 473 473 1 0 5 25 2.45 2.898 3.20 1.176 Minimum Maximum Mean Standard Correlation

Deviation (Pearsons r) 1 .108*

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Table 2 Minimum, Maximum, Means, Standard Deviation, and Correlation with Status Rating for Male Participants Number of status updates Rating Comment Frequency Female Comments Male Comments Note. A higher rating indicated a happier status update. 200 0 10 1.26 1.484 .062 200 0 15 1.55 2.305 .125 200 200 0 25 2.81 3.450 1 5 3.22 1.130 1 .124 Minimum Maximum Mean Standard Deviation Correlation

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Table 3 Minimum, Maximum, Means, Standard Deviation, and Correlation with Status Rating for Female Participants Number of status updates Rating Comment Frequency Female Comments Male Comments Note. A higher rating indicated a happier status update. 273 0 7 .97 1.261 .063 273 0 7 1.17 1.488 .072 273 273 0 11 2.18 2.388 1 5 3.19 1 1 .095 Minimum Maximum Mean Standard Deviation Correlation

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3.225 3.22 3.215 3.21 Mean Status Ratings 3.205 3.2 3.195 3.19 3.185 3.18 3.175 Total Female Condition Group Male Rating

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Figure 1. Mean values for status rating comparing the total paticipants, female, and male participants

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0.3 0.25 Correlation Values 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 Correlation value 0 Frequency of comments Frequency of Likes Female Comments

Significant correlations

Figure 2. Significant correlation values between status rating and comment frequency, like frequency, and female comments.