Durham E-Theses Risky Behaviour: Psychological Mechanisms Underpinning Social Media Users' Engagement BRANLEY, DAWN,BEVERLEY How to cite: BRANLEY, DAWN,BEVERLEY (2015) Risky Behaviour: Psychological Mechanisms Underpinning Social Media Users' Engagement, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11309/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Risky Behaviour: Psychological Mechanisms Underpinning Social Media Users’ Engagement Dawn Beverley Branley Social media has received considerable media attention due to concerns that its use may be linked to risky behaviours, e.g., sharing personal information (Tow, Dell, & Venable, 2010), sexual communication with strangers (Baumgartner, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2010b) and extreme communities that may encourage self-harm and eating disorders (Lewis, Heath, Sornberger, & Arbuthnott, 2012). This thesis identifies who is using social media, what factors influence usage and willingness to engage in online risk behaviour, whether there is a link between content viewed on social media and offline risk behaviour, and the role of extreme communities for users. A mixed method approach is applied to survey and social media data. The first part of the thesis identifies younger users and female users as those most intensively using social media (partially explained by stronger social norms and experiencing more positive outcomes). Attitudes towards risk takers, norms and past behaviour predict willingness to engage in online risk. There is also a link between the content that users view on social media and engaging in offline risk behaviour; this link was stronger for male users. However no age differences were found. The second half of this thesis focuses on online communication around eating disorders and self-harm. Although some content did encourage these behaviours, the majority of the content was of a positive nature and appeared to provide social support for users. These findings suggest that the media portrayal of social media may be misleading. Two important outcomes are highlighted; Firstly, younger users may not necessarily be more vulnerable and, second, that care is needed to ensure that interventions respect the positive side of social media use and limit risks without disrupting potentially positive social networks. Implications include the guiding of such interventions, future research and policy. 1 Risky Behaviour: Psychological Mechanisms Underpinning Social Media Users’ Engagement DAWN BEVERLEY BRANLEY A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Psychology) Psychology Department Durham University 2015 2 Contents Contents .................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Statement of Copyright ....................................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Preface ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 13 1.1. Web 2.0 ............................................................................................................................................................ 14 1.2. Defining social media ................................................................................................................................ 14 1.3. Prevalence of social media use and user demographics ............................................................. 17 1.4. Links to risk behaviour and ‘media panic’ ........................................................................................ 19 1.5. Overview of study one .............................................................................................................................. 22 2. Using an online survey to investigate social media and associated risky behaviour: Methodology of study one .............................................................................................................................. 24 2.1. Sampling and recruitment techniques ............................................................................................... 24 2.2. Sample demographics ............................................................................................................................... 27 2.3. Final sample and groupings for phases 1-3: .................................................................................... 29 3. Study 1, phase 1: Who is using social media? Identifying and explaining age and gender differences in intensity of use ........................................................................................................ 31 3.1. Measures and scoring ................................................................................................................................ 35 3.2. Results ............................................................................................................................................................. 37 3.2.1. Are there age and gender differences in intensity of social media use? ......... 37 3.2.2. What factors can explain age and gender differences in intensity of use? .... 38 3.2.3. Are their age and gender differences in type of social media use? ................... 43 3.2.4. Reasons for use....................................................................................................................... 44 3.2.5. Activities during use ............................................................................................................. 44 3.3. Discussion ...................................................................................................................................................... 48 4. Study 1, phase 2: Exploring attitudes towards online risk taking...................................... 53 4.1. Measures and scoring ................................................................................................................................ 59 4.2. Results ............................................................................................................................................................. 62 4.3. Discussion ...................................................................................................................................................... 67 3 5. Study 1, phase 3: Is social media ‘encouraging’ offline risk behaviour? .......................... 69 5.1. Measures and scoring ................................................................................................................................ 71 5.2. Results ............................................................................................................................................................. 72 5.3. Discussion ...................................................................................................................................................... 79 6. Introduction to online eating disorder and self-harm communities ................................ 84 6.1. Introduction to eating disorders .......................................................................................................... 85 6.2. Introduction to self-harm ........................................................................................................................ 87 6.3. Concerns about the influence of online communities .................................................................. 89 6.4. Potential benefits of online communities ......................................................................................... 94 6.5. The type(s) of eating disorder and self-harm content shared via social media ................ 96 6.5.1. Existing research into eating disorder content on social media platforms and rationale for Study 2 ................................................................................................................................ 96 6.5.2. Existing research into self-harm content on social media platforms and rationale for Study 3 ............................................................................................................................. 100 6.6. Overview of Studies 2 and 3 ................................................................................................................ 102 6.6.1. 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