3-205 - Social Media Use in Child Development Research and Outreach Efforts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

In today’s society, social media has become a frequent context of interaction with friends and unknown individuals, as well as, a place to gain information and support. Social media use is high among individuals who influence child development (e.g., 83% of parents use social media daily; Pew Research, 2015) and youth themselves (89% of teens use social media daily, 45% report almost constant use; Pew Research, 2018). As such, social media is an important topic of study for developmental scientists. It can act as a gateway into behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that might otherwise be difficult to observe. Additionally, social media can be used as a method of dissemination to reach individuals in their daily lives and translate findings from developmental research into practice. The proposed symposium will focus on the ways in which social media can be leveraged in child development research and outreach through presentation of three studies. The first study examines how parents use social media to communicate and discuss information about feeding their child. The second examines the prevalence, sentiment, and impact of anti-bullying campaigns on Twitter. The third focuses on social media as a tool for outreach related to children’s environmental health with the development, implementation, and evaluation of a social media toolkit and campaign. Findings and lessons learned will be discussed and integrated by a senior program officer from the CDC Foundation, with focus on practice and policy implications for using social media in relation to child health & development.

Sub Unit

• Technology, Media & Child Development

Chair

• Carolyn Sutter, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Discussant

• Rachel Powell, CDC Foundation

Individual Presentations

• Types of Information, Advice Seeking, and Parent Evaluation of Food Parenting Practices on Social Media - Presenting Author: Carolyn Sutter, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Non-Presenting Author: Giang Pham, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Non-Presenting Author: Kanika Narang, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Non-Presenting Author: Joseph T Yun, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Non-Presenting Author: Hari Sundaram, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Non-Presenting Author: Barbara Fiese, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Non-Presenting Author: Michelle R Nelson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

• The Impact of Twitter Based Anti-Bullying Campaigns Targeted at Youth - Presenting Author: Felice Resnik, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Non-Presenting Author: Lena White, Carleton College; Non-Presenting Author: Amy Bellmore, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Non-Presenting Author: Jerry Zhu, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Amplifying Children’s Environmental Health Research: Development and implementation of a social media toolkit and campaign - Presenting Author: Brenda Koester, University of Illinois at Urbana Champain; Non-Presenting Author: Wendy Gutschow, University of Southern California; Non-Presenting Author: Nathan Mutic, Emory University