April 7-9, 2022 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Abstract: A Healthy Influence? Exploring Relationships between Friends’ Social Media Posts, Loneliness, Isolation and Behavioral Intentions
Researchers have explored how social media usage shapes our perceptions of the world around us (e.g., Oh et al., 2021; Rahbarqazi & Mahmoudoghli, 2021; Siuki & Webster, 2021). However, much of this research has focused on impersonal, mass social media campaigns from organizations. It is less clear what impact non-sponsored, organic posts from one’s friends and family members have on an individuals’ mindset, particularly in the realm of health beliefs and behavior. Additionally, although social scientists have studied how social media may create or exacerbate feelings of isolation (Choi & Noh, 2020) and loneliness (Song et al., 2014), less is known about the reverse relationship: how isolation and loneliness influence perception of social media. The current study employs the integrative model of behavioral prediction (IMBP; Fishbein & Cappella, 2009) to explore whether social media posts from friends and family members influence one’s attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control over, and intention to enact certain health behaviors (RQ1). We also explored what moderation effect, if any, COVID 19 fear (RQ2), isolation (H1) and loneliness (H2) have between the perception of others’ social media posts and various pieces of the IMBP model. Data was collected via an anonymous online survey between late October 2020 and February 2021. Participants (N = 459) were asked about social media usage, subjective norms, attitudes and perceived control over eight health behaviors (such as binge drinking, wearing a bicycle helmet, and three COVID-specific behaviors (mask-wearing, spending time in public, indoor spaces during recommended quarantine and gathering maskless with others despite recommended social distancing). Isolation, loneliness, and fear of COVID were also measured. To measure perception of others’ social media posts, participants were given the prompt, “Clicking through social media, you stumble upon the following scenarios in posts or images of individuals (including friends and family) you follow on social media.” The scenarios aligned with each of the eight health behaviors measured (i.e, “Friends engaging in binge or excessive drinking”), and participants ranked each on two seven-point semantic differentials, from “responsible to irresponsible,” and “understandable to confusing.” Results indicate that perception of others’ behavior (as seen on social media) influences either subjective norms, attitudes, or perceived behavioral --or all three--for all eight behaviors studied (RQ1). COVID fear did not moderate the relationship between perception and attitudes about COVID-specific behaviors, though perception positively, directly influenced attitude about mask-wearing (RQ2). Isolation only moderated the relationship between perception and subjective norms for one behavior—binge drinking—(H1), and loneliness only moderated the relationship between perception and attitude (H2) for three behaviors— smoking, vaping, and wearing a helmet. No studies to our knowledge have used IMBP to understand how social media influences individuals’ attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptions of control over their own health. Practically, the current study provides important insight for those creating health campaigns: understanding the influence our friends and family members have on our behaviors, both directly and indirectly, facilitates the creation of messages that effectively contradict or confirm what we see in our social media feeds.