Facebook and impressions of new roommates in the transition--论文代写范文

这篇paper代写范文的研究预测,信息寻求行为求基于信息的不确定性。此外,这项研究旨在进一步运用理论，探讨是否有差异的影响,更重要的是,这也有可能发展亲密的关系。

Abstract 
  This dissertation is an attempt to explore first year college students’ Facebook use in association with their relationship development with their previously unacquainted roommates. Survey data indicated that it is very common for freshmen to look up their roommates on Facebook after receiving their roommate assignment from school. Being able to get an idea of who the roommate is helps reduce a student’s uncertainty about living with a complete stranger. Both the uncertainty reduction theory (URT) and the predicted outcome value (POV) theory provide a solid theoretical framework to predict students’ information-seeking behaviors on Facebook. Social information processing (SIP) theory and hyperpersonal model are proved to be helpful in explaining students’ impression formation process on Facebook. 

  This research predicts that information-seeking behaviors as well as the impressions formed based on information available on Facebook will reduce students’ uncertainty about the roommates. Moreover, the study aims to take a further step by applying expectancy violations theory to investigate whether the discrepant impressions formed between Facebook and offline experience have an impact on students’ level of uncertainty upon move-in with the roommates, and more importantly, the impact on the development of roommate relationship closeness.

  A combination of a three-wave survey method and in-depth interviews with 19 students was used for this study. Survey data were collected at three different time points: (1) two weeks before college freshmen moved in with their roommates; (2) one week after they moved into the dormitory; and (3) seven weeks after living together with the roommates. The interviews were conducted after the three-wave survey was completed. Statistical analyses using multiple linear regressions, multiple analysis of variance, and mixed-design ANOVA were applied for the hypotheses testing. 

  The findings were mostly consistent with the hypotheses: (A) before moving in with the roommates, incoming first year students’ uncertainty level was affected by how often they interacted with the roommates on Facebook, how many channels they used to communicate with the roommates, and their impressions of roommates’ appearance and task attractiveness; (B) freshmen who formed positive initial Facebook impressions engaged in more information-seeking behaviors and had greater certainty than those who formed negative initial impressions of the roommates; (C) upon moving in with the roommates, students’ uncertainty level was influenced by their offline impressions of the roommates’ social and appearance attractiveness; (D) discrepancies between initial Facebook and offline impressions produced significant group differences in students’ level of uncertainty and relational outcomes with the roommates; and (E) students’ uncertainty and the impressions of roommates change over time and among groups.

 INTRODUCTION 
  Seven years after Facebook’s first debut on the Harvard campus in 2004, it now has more than 500 million active users around the world, and about 30% of them are inside the United States (Facebook, 2011). A recent Pew report indicated that 72% of American young adults (18- 29 years old) are using social network sites (SNSs), and among them, 71% have a profile on Facebook (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010). As the Facebook phenomenon has spread, many questions and concerns have drawn attention from both the general public and researchers regarding its influences on the social, psychological, and behavioral aspects of its users, such as privacy issue, users’ self-presentation and impression management in the profiles, and their psychological well-beings. 

  For example, research showed that young adults are at risk for stalking occurrences (Cass, 2011; Fisher, Cullen, & Turner, 2002) due to the accessibility of personal information on SNSs; therefore, young adults are advised to take steps to protect themselves from being harmed. There have been many studies specifically focusing on its implications for college students nowadays (e.g., Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007; Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfield, 2008; Lou, 2009; Pempek, Yermolayeva, & Calvert, 2009; Steinfield, Ellison, & Lampe, 2008). The studies found that about 85% to 95% of college students have joined Facebook. The time they spent on Facebook each day has increased significantly from 29.48 minutes in 2006 to more than 63 minutes in 2007 on average (Steinfield, et al., 2008). While Facebook has become one of the routine activities for college students, many parents, educators, and researchers are curious about its effects on students’ intellectual, personal, and interpersonal developments. 

  For example, Ellison and her colleagues (Ellison, et al., 2007; Steinfield, et al., 2008) investigated the relationships between students’ Facebook use, social capital, psychological well-being, and selfesteem; and Pempek, Yermolayeva, and Calvert (2009) conducted a study on college students’ social networking experiences on Facebook. These studies indicated a positive relationship between Facebook use and students’ social interactions—it helps maintain their former connections and facilitate a sense of belongings in the college environment—which is critical for students who are at their emerging adulthood stage, where friendships at this stage are influential in students’ development of identity, well-being, and family relationships in the future (Steinfield, et al., 2008).

  This study aims to explore first year college students’ Facebook use in association with their relationship development with their previously unacquainted roommates. In 2007, several articles reported that there were an increasing number of incoming college freshmen and their parents requested housing officials for a new roommate assignment in that summer after they looked up their future roommates’ Facebook profiles (e.g., Collura, 2007; Eberhardt, 2007; Walsh-Sarnecki, 2007). From the sample of the present study, 99.5% of the first year students indicated that they looked up their roommates on Facebook after receiving the roommate assignment from school in August 2010. It suggests Facebook is playing an important role in their daily lives, especially during the transition to college life. 

  Being able to ―meet‖ a future roommate before moving in together helps to alleviate the unease students face related to the prospect of living with a stranger (Scissors, 2007); however, others have asserted that the decision to change roommates based on a negative Facebook impression would rob college freshmen of significant social learning opportunities to ―develop personal flexibility and learn to get along with people different from themselves‖ (Eberhardt, 2007). The arguments from both sides seem legitimate and they point out how Facebook can be both beneficial and harmful in the development of roommate relationships among first year students. How does Facebook affect first year students’ decisions to keep or change their assigned roommates? This is the central question that has inspired the undertaking of the present study. Facebook, like other social network sites (SNSs), allows its members to present themselves in a variety of ways and forms in their personal profiles. 

  Users can upload pictures and update personal information, such as their status, education, activities and interests, contact information and other personal background. It enables users to connect with friends, establish their friend networks, and interact with friends using a variety of applications available on the site. boyd and Ellison (2007) defined SNSs as web-based services that allow users to ―(1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulated a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.‖ Although SNSs are primarily designed to maintain existing social links that are created offline, some people also use them as a tool to make new friends (Lenhart & Madden, 2007). 

  For college freshmen, they are able to benefit from both during the transition from high school to college: on the one hand, they can maintain connections with friends from their past, and on the other hand, they can establish virtual connections with new friends they meet, including people in their dorms, classmates, and participants from social events, and so on. Whether students are connecting with existing friends or new ones, how they present themselves in their profiles has become an important issue. For instance, when a student joins a group which advocates some irresponsible behaviors, even if these behaviors do not reflect his actual belief, the self-image he presents in the profile will be associated with negative qualities. It can become unfavorable to him when he attempts to apply for undergraduate research assistant.(paper代写)

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