TY - JOUR
T1 - #Happyanniversary
T2 - Gender and age differences in spouses’ and partners’ twitter greetings
AU - Reifman, Alan
AU - Ursua-Benitez, Mykaela
AU - Niehuis, Sylvia
AU - Willis-Grossmann, Emma
AU - Thacker, McKinley
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, PsychOpen. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/7
Y1 - 2020/7
N2 - Research and theory suggest that men, on average, are inhibited from expressing vulnerable emotions such as love, whereas women do so more readily. Based on theories of gender socialization and social media uses and gratifications, we conducted a content analysis of gender differences in the domain of wedding and other relationship anniversary greetings delivered on Twitter (N = 414 tweets). We tested for gender as well as age differences in three areas: symbolic (emoji), photographic, and verbal content. As hypothesized, women were more likely to use emojis than were men. Most tweeters who included photographs in their greetings used photos of themselves and their partners today, although some subgroups of men and women preferred photos from their weddings. Age-related differences were clear: young-adult tweeters preferred symbolic emojis to deliver their anniversary greetings, whereas older/middle-aged adults opted for verbal/ textual communication, particularly in the areas of tribute and inspirational statements and humor. Results are discussed in terms of gender-role socialization, social and cultural norms, and modes of communication (e.g., written letters and notes, smartphone texts) during different historical eras.
AB - Research and theory suggest that men, on average, are inhibited from expressing vulnerable emotions such as love, whereas women do so more readily. Based on theories of gender socialization and social media uses and gratifications, we conducted a content analysis of gender differences in the domain of wedding and other relationship anniversary greetings delivered on Twitter (N = 414 tweets). We tested for gender as well as age differences in three areas: symbolic (emoji), photographic, and verbal content. As hypothesized, women were more likely to use emojis than were men. Most tweeters who included photographs in their greetings used photos of themselves and their partners today, although some subgroups of men and women preferred photos from their weddings. Age-related differences were clear: young-adult tweeters preferred symbolic emojis to deliver their anniversary greetings, whereas older/middle-aged adults opted for verbal/ textual communication, particularly in the areas of tribute and inspirational statements and humor. Results are discussed in terms of gender-role socialization, social and cultural norms, and modes of communication (e.g., written letters and notes, smartphone texts) during different historical eras.
KW - Anniversary
KW - Emoji
KW - Gender
KW - Twitter
KW - Uses and gratifications theory
KW - Wedding
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090715095&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5964/ijpr.v14i1.3799
DO - 10.5964/ijpr.v14i1.3799
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090715095
SN - 1981-6472
VL - 14
SP - 54
EP - 68
JO - Interpersona
JF - Interpersona
IS - 1
ER -