Kate Blackburn

Navigating romantic relationships on Facebook Extending the relationship dissolution model to social networking environments

The present study explores how people use social networking sites to adjust to breakups by studying their postdissolution behaviors. We apply Rollie and Duck’s (2006) relationship dissolution model by examining how collegiate Facebook users (N = 208) enact behaviors in breakups to extend the model to online environments during and after breakups. Furthermore, we employed a retrospective design utilizing qualitative methods to define categories of behavioral responses to a breakup on Facebook. The analysis revealed online behaviors that overlapped with the dissolution model as well as paralleled previous research into online behaviors. Results are discussed using the relationship dissolution model framework to individuals modifying online relationship statuses, “unfriending” previous partners, and limiting profile access in order to manage relationship termination.

The I’s, We’s, and She/He’s of Breakups Public and Private Pronoun Usage in Relationship Dissolution Accounts

People adjusting from couplehood to singlehood often engage in account creation in order to privately make sense of their relationship life and death, as well as publicly explain the changes to their social network. This study analyzes language style differences in retrospective private and public accounts of relationship breakups. We examined language use as it relates to the creation of accounts, breakup initiator status, and relationship dissolution adjustment. We found that (a) public and private breakup accounts contain different types and percentages of first-person and third-person pronouns, (b) pronoun use differs based on the breakup initiator, and (c) use of first-person singular and plural pronouns predicts post-breakup adjustment. Findings suggest that language style differences in private and public accounts from the same person may illustrate variations in how individuals adjust to stressful experiences.

Social Networking Site Behaviors Across the Relational Lifespan: Measurement and Association With Relationship Escalation and De-escalation:

This study examines (1) the factor structure of social networking site relational behaviors (SNSRB), (2) the association between the behaviors and relational quality and breakup adjustment, and (3) whether behaviors vary as a function of relational status. Participants’ responses (N = 363) indicated that the majority of variance in SNSRB was accounted for by 10 factors—surveillance, managing impressions through photographs, regulating usage, maintaining shared networks/contacts, oversharing, communicating directly via private messages, posting about offline activity, relationship broadcasting, status management, and privacy. Additionally, each factor was associated with the participants’ romantic relationships such as quality of current relationships, adjustment to dissolved relationships, or relational status. This study extends understanding of how technology reflects the way people interact throughout the romantic relationship lifespan.

“Playing Hooky” Health Messages: Apprehension, Impression Management, and Deception

ABSTRACT This study investigates playing hooky in higher education classrooms and associates this behavior with students’ communicative dispositions, instructor perceptions, and language use. We define “playing hooky” as students skipping class and explaining their absence to their instructor with deceptive health messages. The purpose of Study 1, an online survey (N = 177), is to further understand the characteristics of students who engage in this type of deceptive health communication. Study 1 measures communication apprehension and perceived instructor credibility in students who had played hooky from class and those who had not. Findings reveal that students who communicate playing hooky health messages (a) reported more instructor communication apprehension and (b) perceived the instructors with whom they had played hooky to be less credible. Study 2 uses facework theory and MEH analysis to reveal the different linguistic strategies students use to communicate (a) truthful health messages (N = 165) and (b) deceptive heath messages (N = 82) to their instructor following an absence. Results demonstrate that students’ facework strategies are more geared toward saving instructors’ negative face in the deceptive health message condition. Implications of both studies are offered.

Food for thought: Exploring how people think and talk about food online

This exploratory study examined the ways in which people communicate about food online by analyzing food-related conversations on Reddit, a social news networking site. The Meaning Extraction Helper (MEH) was used to analyze 2 corpora and define central themes related to online food talk. In light of these themes, the researchers discuss socio-cultural components shaping the food conversations in our society in general as well as healthy versus unhealthy communities, and provided specific directions for future empirical research.

Heroes or Health Victims?: Exploring How the Elite Media Frames Veterans on Veterans Day

ABSTRACT We examine the frames the elite news media uses to portray veterans on and surrounding Veterans Day 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. We use mental health illness and media framing literature to explore how, why, and to what extent Veterans Day news coverage uses different media frames across the four consecutive years. We compiled a Media Coverage Corpora for each year, which contains the quotes and paraphrased remarks used in all veterans news stories for that year. In our primary study, we applied the meaning extraction method (MEM) to extract emergent media frames for Veterans Day 2014 and compiled a word frequency list, which captures the words most commonly used within the corpora. In post hoc analyses, we collected news stories and compiled word frequency lists for Veterans Day 2012, 2013, and 2015. Our findings reveal dissenting frames across 2012, 2013, and 2014 Veterans Day media coverage. Word frequency results suggest the 2012 and 2013 media frames largely celebrate Veterans as heroes, but the 2014 coverage depicts veterans as victimized by their wartime experiences. Furthermore, our results demonstrate how the prevailing 2015 media frames could be a reaction to 2014 frames that portrayed veterans as health victims. We consider the ramifications of this binary portrayal of veterans as either health victims or heroes and discuss the implications of these dueling frames for veterans’ access to healthcare resources.