Showcase of Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors (SOURCE)

The Relations Between Aggression and Life Satisfaction on Social Media Reactivity

Social media is integrated into most adults’ daily lives with millions of posts viewed each day. We examined characteristics of adults that predicted willingness to respond to social media posts varying in emotional content. Participants were 110 adults with a mean age of 38.38 (SD = 19.61). The majority of participants were Caucasian (87%) and women (58%). Via an online platform, participants encountered social media posts that varied in emotional content and subject matter. After each post, participants reported their emotional reaction, agreement level, and their likelihood of responding. Participants also responded to scales to assess aggression and life satisfaction. Results revealed support for the idea that participant characteristics predicted adults’ willingness to respond to social media posts. People who were happier and less aggressive were more likely to respond to social media posts, while younger, less satisfied, and more aggressive participants seemed to want to avoid responding to social media posts. These findings may reflect the fact that social media is often used as a tool to enhance social relationships. Thus, people who are happy and less confrontational may be more motivated to post in order to use social media as a strategy to connect with others; they are likely to have had more positive responses to their posts in the past. These findings add to our understanding of social media use, suggesting that responsiveness is to social media posts is determined by both characteristics of the user and of the posted material.