![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: The family is an important social institution for the development of young people (ages 10-24 years) (Lucas-Thompson & Goldberg, 2011; World Health Organization, 2015). Family conflict often arises as young people seek greater autonomy from their family and transition from adolescence into young adulthood (Allen & Loeb, 2015). These changes may affect how he or she relates to other family members and lead to the eruption of challenging individual and family issues (Bowen, 1974). Social media platforms may be an important venue to understand how young people document family problems that they are experiencing and how they cope with these challenges. Tumblr is a popular social media site among younger age groups due to its accessibility, community interaction among users, the ability to share a wide variety of media types with no character limit, and the ability to connect with other users without mutual confirmation (Marquart, 2010). We explored the following research questions: 1) What are the characteristics of individuals (e.g. age, gender) who write Tumblr posts related to family problems? Which types of family members (e.g. mothers, fathers, siblings) are most commonly included in posts as the source of family problems? 2) What are the differences in family problems described by males and females? 3) What are some of the coping methods described by adolescents and adults with family problems? And 4) What are some of the correlates associated with using positive and negative coping mechanisms to handle family problems?
Methods: 531 Tumblr posts, collected in August of 2016 and November of 2016 using the built in Tumblr search function was used to identify only those posts which used the hashtag “familyproblems” or “familyissues,” were coded by two researchers using grounded theory to identify commonly observed themes. Cohen’s kappa coefficients ranged from 0.6 to 1.00. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and logistic regression were analyzed using SAS 9.4.
Results: The majority (93%) of Tumblr users reporting family problems were below age 25 years, 64% were female, 11% were male, and 25% reported gender fluid. The family as a whole and parents were the most commonly reported sources of family problems. The top three coping mechanisms displayed or described by Tumblr users were blaming others (40%), holding things in (15%), and reaching out for a response on social media (10%). Tumblr users who reported that they were unhappy at home had 3.85 higher odds of using a negative coping mechanism.
Conclusions: Tumblr is an important social media platform for understanding young people’s family experiences and coping mechanisms. Females are more likely to describe family problems in Tumblr posts than males or those who reported other gender. Tumblr users report a variety of coping mechanisms, though unhealthy coping mechanisms are most common, particularly when the user feels unhappy at home.
Implications for research and/or practice: Practitioners may consider using Tumblr to better understand the family problems young people experience. Using Tumblr may be an effective intervention approach to reach young people.