Effect of Twitter on Coping Skills 1

The Effect of Twitter on Coping Skills

Members:

Dalaniel, Rachel V.

Madrigal, Katrina T.

Magalang, Rachel Joy A.

Ogana, Rhenely

Torres, Charlotte V.

University of Makati
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Introduction

The psychological coping mechanisms are commonly termed coping strategies or coping

skills. The term coping generally refers to adaptive coping strategies. That is strategies which

reduce stress. In contrast, other coping strategies may be coined as maladaptive, if they increase

stress. Maladaptive coping is therefore also described, when looking at the outcome, as non-

coping. Furthermore, the term coping generally refers to reactive coping, i.e. the coping response

which follows the stressor. (Lazarus,1991)

Aforementioned links between social media use and positive outcomes may be explained

by conceptualizing social media use as a form of coping through social support seeking. Coping

refers to the specific way, both behavioral and psychological, in which individuals master, tolerate,

reduce, or minimize stressful events (Taylor, 1998). The methods with which individuals cope

with life stressors have long been of interest in psychological research. While many styles of

coping have been operationalized and studied, it is important to note that coping changes over time

with changing situational contexts (Lazarus, 1993). Therefore, a particular coping style may be

adaptive in one context, but not in another.

There are two coping strategies: active coping and avoidant coping. Individuals often use

both of these strategies, sometimes in combination, to deal with stressful events (Folkman &

Lazarus, 1980). Active coping entails problem solving, seeking support, and attempts at changing

one's current situation, while avoidant coping entails denial, drawing into oneself, and engaging

in potentially harmful activities such as substance use. Research has found that avoidant coping

strategies may be effective short-term but are maladaptive overall (Suls & Fletcher, 1985).
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The point estimates of the effects are larger in magnitude in the bottom row, and both the

Feelings and Rules treatments 25 have significant effects in the 2-7 day time period, even as the

reduced sample size results in larger standard errors. The overall inferences from the negative

binomial regressions run in the body of the text are robust to using OLS. The models disagree

about whether the effects of the Feelings and Rules treatments persist for the 15-28 day time

period;

Twitter can be considered as one of the contemporary and popular online social networks.

As a micro-blogging system, it is relevant in both private and public communication spheres.

Twitter is used for purposes such as updating current status, initiating conversations, endorsing

tweet content, promoting products and even for spamming (Benevenuto, Magno, Rodrigues, &

Almeida, 2010). The success of a social media platform lies in its ability to attract people from

different domains and geographic locations Academicians and researchers from the scientific

community are also interested in social media due to its various benefits (Sugimoto, Work,

Larivière, & Haustein, 2016). Scholars have cited information dissemination as a major benefit of

using Twitter (Letierce, Passant, Breslin, & Decker, 2010). It has been observed that tweets can

help in predicting citations to a certain extent (Eysenbach, 2011).

Background of the study

The study focuses on knowing the effect of twitter on coping skills of 1st year BS Nursing

students in University of Makati. This study simply let the students tweet their problems and see

if their coping mechanism is high or not depending on the test result during the pre – test and

posttest using the Big Five Personality Test (OCEAN Test) by Costa and McCrae.
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A study conducted by Kwak, Lee, Park and Moon (2010), set out to determine whether

Twitter is ‘Social Network or a News Media’ and to define the power of Twitter ‘as a new medium

of information sharing’ (591). The authors claim that ‘this work is the first quantitative study on

the entire Twittersphere’ (591). Analysis of current data would provide an interesting comparison.

Kwak et al. investigate the occurrence of homophily, being ‘a tendency that a contact between

similar people occurs at a higher rate than among dissimilar people’ (594).

Several studies have found that individuals can use social media networking sites as a

means of active coping for seeking social support and problem solving. Another study analyzed

2,099 Twitter messages during the 2011 European Escherichia coli outbreak in Spain and found

that users tweeted about the crisis during periods of uncertainty as a form of social coping to

express acceptance and positive adaption to the crisis (Gaspar et al., 2014).

Gaspar (2014) suggests that social media has been used as a coping strategy in college

students and adults, no studies have directly examined whether adolescents describe social media

use as a coping mechanism.

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Research Paradigm

1st Year Students of BS

Nursing in University of
Makati
A.Y 2019-2020

PRE - TEST

Experimental Group A Treatment

Controlled Group B
Non-twitter Non-twitter

POST – TEST

Coping Skills

There is a Significant
Difference
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Theoretical Framework

The coping theory is a vast area of study that is classified into two independent parameters:

1. Focus-oriented theories (trait and state).

2. Approach-oriented theories (micro-analytic and macro-analytic).

The focus-oriented state and trait theories of coping recognize a person’s internal resources and
mental capacities for evaluating how well he can adapt to a situation. On the other hand, the
approach-oriented micro and macro analytic coping theories revolve around how concrete or
abstract the coping mechanisms are (Carver, 1989).

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the effect of twitter on coping skills of the 1st year Nursing students

in University of Makati for academic year 2019-2020.

The researcher wants to answer the following questions below:

1. Is there an effect on days of intervention to the coping skills of students?

2. What is the effect of venting out their problems through tweeting?

3. Is there a significant difference to the result of the treatment in pretest and posttest?

Scope and Delimitation

The researcher focuses on the effect of twitter on coping skills of the 1st year BS Nursing

Students in University of Makati. The aspects look into the purpose of twitter whether it contributes

to the level of coping mechanism or not. This study confirms the coping skills of Nursing students

wherein there are two groups: One group will use twitter to vent out and the other group will use

diary to vent out their problems.

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The study was limited in the participants because 1st year Nursing students only are

required to participate on our research.

Significance of the Problem

The result of the study will help group of people to know the influence of twitter on level

of coping skills in terms of the population. Basically, the group of people will particularly benefit

from this study.

Teachers: This study will provide additional knowledge regarding to the effect of twitter

on coping skills that they can use in their students and can be their basis if the student is acting

strange.

Parents. This study will be the eye-opener because they will be aware that their

sons/daughters has a problem and they will be the one who can help to solve it.

Definition of Terms

In this research, the terms below was used to give the exact definition.

Twitter - Is a free social networking microblogging service that allows registered members to

broadcast short posts called tweets

Intervention - Are actions performed to bring about change in people

Maladaptive- not providing adequate or appropriate adjustment to the environment or situation.

Aforementioned - denoting a thing or person previously mentioned.

Theory- Set of beliefs or principles that might not be proven yet

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Parameter- A numerical or other measurable factor forming one of a set that defines a system or

sets the conditions of its operation.

Cope- To deal with and attempt to overcome problems and difficulties

Micro-blogging – a web service that allows the subscriber to broadcast short messages to other

subscribers of the service.

Journals – a daily record of news and events of a personal nature; a diary.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

Pretest-Posttest research design was used in this study. This design is used to compare

participant groups and measure the degree of change occurring as a result of treatments or

interventions. It also allows researchers to compare the final posttest results between the two

groups, giving them an idea of the overall effectiveness of the intervention or treatment. The

researcher can see how both groups changed from pretest to posttest, whether one, both or

neither improved over time

Threats to Internal Validity

The threats of our study to the internal validity is first, the statistical regression because

if we select samples according to their extreme characteristics or scores, the tendency is to regress

toward the mean. Therefore, those with extreme high scores appear to be decreasing their scores,

and those with extreme low scores appear to be increasing their scores. Last is the testing because

the effect of giving the pretest itself may affect the outcome of the posttest.

Participants

The participants of this study are the College of Allied Health Services (COAHS) 1ST year

Nursing students from University of Makati. The sample size of our participants are 18 students

from the raw population of 22 students. They are randomly assigned either of the two groups by

letting them pick a fold paper with a corresponding number.

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Locale

The study of the effect of twitter on coping skills among selected college are conducted to

selected college department (CGPP) of University of Makati. University of Makati is a government

locally funded for the youth and people who lives in Makati City. University of Makati is located

along J.P Rizal Ext. West Rembo, Makati City.

Instruments

This study aims to examine the coping skills of participants wherein the researcher will test

if participants who got high coping skills will share what their thoughts and their feelings by

tweeting. The test is 50 items and provides a score for each of the Big Five personality traits

(Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism). Five-Factor

Theory, formulated by Robert (Jeff) McCrae and Paul Costa . Five Factor Theory broad domains

which define human personality and account for individual differences. A low or high score on

each trait gives you more insight in the way you behave the way you do. BFI has also been

validated in the Malaysian context whereby the reliability of the measures has been found

consistent and indicates the homogeneity of the items in the measures. Research instruments are

Questionnaires, Tests, Interviews, and Observations etc.

Below are the questions in the Big Five Personality Test.

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Procedure

There are different procedures in data gathering for the study. After reading and citing

sources from internet, articles, books, journals and undergraduate theses of the previous students,

the researchers primarily construct the related literature and studies. They also collected various

theories to support this study.

The researchers conducted the pre-experimental period after selecting one or two class.

During this period the researchers conducted short interview for survey. Those who are non-twitter

users are qualified to take the pre-test. The participants are randomly selected for the division of

two groups: controlled group and experimental group. The researchers will provide internet/ data

connection.
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Then after the division of groups, the controlled group will take pretest and posttest

(OCEAN test). The experimental group will take pretest, treatment and posttest. After the

experimental group took pre-test, each of them will make their own twitter account and will be

given 1 hour to make a tweet as many as they can. The treatment occurs in five consecutive days.

After the intervention the researchers gathered information by conducting a post-test

(OCEAN test) composed of 50 items. The data gathered from post-test was evaluated and

interpreted whether there is an effect of using twitter on coping skills.

Statistical Tools

A Dependent T-test will be used to compare if there is a significant difference between the

scores that were collected for the pre-test and post-test.

An Independent T-test will be used to compare if there is a significant difference between

the mean of two independent groups.

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Result