Is Social Media Use Changing Who We Are? Examining the Bidirectional Relationship Between Personality and Social Media Use.

Social media has changed the way we live. It is now so integral to daily life that it is one of the top activities that people spend their time on each day. Given its ubiquity, it is important to understand what kinds of personality traits draw people toward social media and whether social media changes personality. The present study utilizes a longitudinal design with a large nationally representative sample (N = 11,629) to examine the bidirectional relationship between personality and social media use (SMU). First, cross-lagged analyses revealed a bidirectional relationship between SMU and neuroticism such that neuroticism predicted increased SMU, but SMU also predicted increased neuroticism. However, while increased SMU predicted reduced honesty/humility, honesty/humility did not predict SMU. No other relationships emerged between personality and SMU. This study is the first to examine the extent to which personality both predicts SMU, and is in turn reciprocally shaped by social media exposure in a large-scale national probability panel study.

How Common Is Cyberbullying Among Adults? Exploring Gender, Ethnic, and Age Differences in the Prevalence of Cyberbullying.

Previous research on cyberbullying has almost entirely focused on examining its prevalence among teens and young adults leaving it unclear how prevalent it is within the wider population. The present study used a New Zealand (NZ) national sample (N = 20,849) to examine gender, age, and ethnic differences in the experiences of cyberbullying victimization. On average, nearly 14.9 percent of respondents stated that they have ever been a target of cyberbullying before, with 2.2 percent respondents reporting such experiences within the past month. While young adults (18-25 years) experienced the highest levels of cyberbullying during both time frames (lifetime and past month), the prevalence of cyberbullying was lower among older age cohorts, with the lowest rate among the 66+ age group. Reports of cyberbullying slightly varied among men and women, with women overall reporting slightly greater levels of having ever experienced cyberbullying than men; however, this significant difference did not carry into reports of cyberbullying over the past month. On average, participants identifying as European reported lower levels of cyberbullying than Maori and Pacific Nations participants during both time frames, with Asian participants falling in the middle. Taken together, these findings provide a nuanced understanding of the prevalence of cyberbullying in a large national sample of NZ adults.

Cross-ethnic friendships, perceived discrimination, and their effects on ethnic activism over time: a longitudinal investigation of three ethnic minority groups.

This research examines cross-ethnic friendships as a predictor of perceived discrimination and support for ethnic activism over time among African American, Latino American, and Asian American undergraduate participants from a multi-year, longitudinal study conducted in the United States. Our research builds on prior cross-sectional research by testing effects longitudinally and examining how relationships among these variables may differ across ethnic minority groups. Results indicate that, over time, greater friendships with Whites predict both lower perceptions of discrimination and less support for ethnic activism among African Americans and Latino Americans, but not among Asian Americans. Implications of these findings for future research on inter-group contact, minority-majority relations, and ethnic group differences in status are discussed.