Media and Interpersonal Channels Uses and Preferences Among International Students in the U.S. During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This chapter provides an overview of how international students in the United States used media and interpersonal channels to communicate with family, friends, and each other during the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter starts by discussing the challenges of international students during the health pandemic. It then provides a review of the role of media during a crisis. Factors influencing media use during the COVID-19 crisis include culture, personality, and time spent in a foreign country. Finally, the chapter ends by providing suggestions for how universities can better equip their international offices to deal with international students during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Development, psychometric validation, and cross-cultural comparison of the "Instagram Motives Questionnaire" (IMQ) and the "Instagram Uses and Patterns Questionnaire" (IUPQ).

Background and aims: Social network use is widespread, and the study of Instagram seems to have captured more attention in recent years. However, scale development and validation in the field has fallen short of providing sound scales of Instagram motives and usage patterns that consider the uniqueness of Instagram-related behavior. This paper describes the development, psychometric and cross-cultural validation of two new measurement instruments: the "Instagram Motives Questionnaire" (IMQ) and the "Instagram Uses and Patterns Questionnaire" (IUPQ). Methods and results: A preliminary set of items was developed for each questionnaire based on a previous qualitative interview study on Instagram motives, uses, and consequences. In the first study, the questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 312 participants aged 18-35 years (M = 23.81; SD = 4.49), and an exploratory factor analysis was performed. A parsimonious and interpretable 6-factor solution that displayed adequate factor loadings and adequate Omega coefficients for both instruments were found. In a second study, the two instruments and other measures of known social network usage correlates and mental health consequences were administered online to 1,418 English-speaking participants aged 18-34 years (M = 21.35; SD = 3.89). Both scales showed good psychometric properties and the factor structure identified in study 1 was reproduced through confirmatory factor analysis. Omega reliability coefficients were adequate. Finally, when performing multi-group CFA along with a French (n = 1,826) and a Spanish (n = 3,040) sample, language and gender invariance were supported. Correlations with other relevant measures indicate good convergent validity of both scales. Conclusions: The present research provides psychometrically sound instruments for further investigations on Instagram use behaviors.

Predictors of Problematic Social Media Use: Personality and Life-Position Indicators.

Given the preponderance of social media in our increasingly saturated media environments, there is a need for greater understanding of how personality traits and states can influence problematic social media use. This study examines whether contextual age indicators (life satisfaction, interpersonal interaction, social activity), the fear of missing out, and the Big Five personality traits are significant predictors of Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat addictions. A survey of 337 college students reveals that greater social activity is a positive predictor of addiction to Snapchat. Another significant finding is a positive relationship between social media addiction and the fear of missing out, which explained the most variance in addiction scores for Snapchat (16%). An inductive analysis of open-ended responses indicated strong similarities between those who claimed that they were addicted to these social media apps and those said that they were not addicted. Both groups described largely similar usage patterns and media dependency, yet several users did not self-identify as addicted to social media. These patterns indicate that more research is needed to determine how social media users differentiate between normative, heavy, and addicted usage.

Baby Boomers' use of Facebook and Instagram: uses and gratifications theory and contextual age indicators.

Social media research tends to prioritize how young adults - and college students, in particular - use social network sites. While several studies have focused on how Facebook can help alleviate loneliness among older adults, the motives for using other social media platforms, including Instagram, have not been adequately explored. This study therefore focuses on how a uses and gratifications framework applies to older users of Facebook and Instagram, including the relationship to contextual age. A survey of 414 Baby Boomers and Traditionalists was conducted in the Fall of 2019. The results revealed that older adults rely on Facebook and Instagram to compensate for the lack of social activity and face-to-face interactions in their daily lives. These patterns are consistent with social compensation hypothesis and contradict the findings of studies done with college students. In addition, the older adults' life satisfaction was a negative predictor of using these sites for companionship and diversion. Future research should furthermore explore how other personality traits and social situations might influence older individuals use of social media. This knowledge can be particularly useful in times of health pandemic, such as COVID-19, when so many older individuals are confined to their homes and rely on social media for interaction and entertainment. Insight into intergenerational social media usage differences can also benefit advertisers, policy makers, recreational groups, healthcare and social services.

Media and interpersonal channels uses and preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of the United States, Thailand, and Croatia.

According to media systems dependency theory, increased dependence on media to meet individual needs is directly proportional to greater perceived media importance in one's life and subsequently stronger media effects on one's attitudes and behavior. This dependency relationship intensifies during times of uncertainty or crisis. Although several recent studies have focused on media dependence during health crises such as SARS and H1N1 influenza, insights from eastern countries may not be validated in other hemisphere. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to adopt a cross-cultural lens to examine how participants from three different continents used media during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 860 adults completed a survey during April and May 2020. Participants were asked to provide demographic and socioeconomic details, followed by questions measuring their media consumption, channel preferences, motivations, and perception of their well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results revealed that national culture had a strong influence on media use and preferences during the COVID-19 crisis. For example, the US participants spent the most time using the media but scored the lowest on well-being. This aligns with the claim that in individualistic countries people rely on media more than on their social network. US participants also used the media for surveillance goals more than their Thai or Croatian counterparts. Another cultural difference was that Thai participants reported using the media to relax more than other nationalities, which reflects the Thai's "way of life" and can explain their higher score on well-being. Finally, there were cultural differences in the use of social media. While Croatian and Thai participants' use of social media reflected collectivistic tendencies (using social media for social interaction), among Americans, social media use reflects individualistic trends (using social media for surveillance). The study discusses limitations and suggestions for future research.

Predicting aggression, conciliation, and concurrent rumination in escalating conflict.

Interactions are characterized by opposite motives according to game theory. The purpose of this study was to explore how people judge the probability and advisability of conflict reactions in an unfolding dispute within a married couple using latent growth curve modeling (LGCM). Individuals participated in a study using two videotaped scenarios depicting marital conflict in which a spouse comes home after a long day at work only to criticize his or her partner for violating expectations of a good meal. One situation involved male-initiated conflict and female reactance, whereas another illustrated female-initiated conflict and male reactance. Participants were asked to predict the future reactions based on aggressive tactics (e.g., slapping the partner, insulting the partner) or prosocial and forgiving communication (e.g., apologizing, discussing the issue calmly) as well as the use of online, imagined interaction (II) rumination in which individuals replay arguments in their mind as well as thinking about what to say next during the argument. Results of the LGCM revealed support for various hypotheses in which it was predicted that the husband would be more likely to be conciliatory than the wife, and the wife would be more aggressive than her husband. II rumination was initially expected to increase and be advised before reaching a plateau. Findings are discussed in terms of game theory and II conflict-linkage theory.