Master of Science, Miami University, 2024, Sport Leadership and Management

Social media use, including fitness tracking sites such as Strava, is related to psychological well-being. In addition, these platforms are a prime context for social comparison. Use of Strava may be linked to well-being depending on one's social comparison tendencies. This study investigated (a) the relationships between the use of Strava and well-being, athlete burnout, and sport enjoyment and (b) if social comparison moderated this relationship. Participants included 213 non-elite runners aged 18 to 30 years (M = 21.55, SD = 3.38). Participants completed an online Qualtrics survey at one time point. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that interacting on Strava did not significantly associate with study outcomes. Social comparison of ability positively associated with reduced accomplishment (β = .19, p = .006) and negatively associated with eudaimonic well-being (β = -.17, p = .016), hedonic well-being (β = -.28, p < .001), and enjoyment (β = -.15, p = .028). The interaction term for social comparison of ability and Strava interaction behaviors negatively predicted sport enjoyment (β = -.17, p = .014). Results suggested that markers of well-being are directly associated with social comparison of ability and indirectly by interactions on Strava.

Committee: Christine Pacewicz (Committee Chair); Callie Maddox (Committee Member); Robin Vealey (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Technology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2023, Communication

Prior research has examined unique outcomes of eudaimonic entertainment, including making sense of difficulties (MSOD), connectedness, and helping intentions. The present study experimentally manipulated the presence of humor in a film about cancer to examine how humor affects these outcomes. Results show that, through the mechanisms of character identification and cancer anxiety, humor perceptions positively predict MSOD and feelings of connectedness. The study also presents a new measure of coping humor appreciation to capture more nuanced perceptions of characters' utilization of coping humor. Future research directions concerning the role of moving humor are discussed.

Committee: James Bonus (Committee Member); Emily Moyer-Gusé (Advisor) Subjects: Communication

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2022, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis explores the online communities on YouTube and TikTok dedicated to books, known as BookTube and BookTok, which have given literature a sustained relevance in the age of the Internet and caused skyrocketing success for many books and authors. The first research question of this study seeks to investigate the motivations behind the young adult community who read books for pleasure, and the second posits whether motivations for reading among this audience are hedonistic or eudaimonic in nature. Finally, the third research question explores how YouTube and TikTok have shaped the cultural discourse on reading books in the Digital Age. The theoretical basis for this study is grounded in uses and gratifications theory, mood management theory, and eudaimonic effects. I collected a total of 611 videos and comments from YouTube and TikTok and conducted a textual analysis and critical discourse analysis, grouping videos and comments into themes to understand the content of both platforms. Results showed that there were several primary motivations for young adult readers, including achievement, escapism, and social interaction. There was a consistent measure of hedonistic motivations for reading, such as the desire for aesthetic beauty and comforting stories, as well as eudaimonic motivations, including catharsis and connection with others. Additionally, YouTube was shown to have higher numbers of subscribers to individual YouTube channels, while TikTok had higher general audience numbers for its videos. These results supported the premise of uses and gratifications theory, while showing evidence of both hedonistic and eudaimonic motivations. Furthermore, while there was overlap in communication styles and content themes for YouTube and TikTok, each community had unique features that allowed users to discuss and interact with stories in different ways.

Committee: Victoria LaPoe (Committee Chair); Rosanna Planer (Committee Member); Kelly Ferguson (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism; Mass Communications

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2017, Psychology

Evidence to date suggests that a higher level of positive emotion is generally associated with improved psychological health (e.g., Tugade, Fredrickson, & Barrett, 2004). However, the specific features characterizing the ways in which upregulation of positive emotion is associated with good psychological functioning are less understood. I investigated how three factors may link regulation of positive emotions to greater psychological health: 1) the presence of both a large repertoire and persistent use of regulation strategies; 2) a “match” between the features of a situation and the strategy used; and 3) the use of specific categories of regulatory strategies, such as expression (capitalization), and less use of suppression. One-hundred and thirty-four undergraduates (mean age = 19.22; 73% female; 78% Caucasian) indicated the strategies they would use to maintain or improve their mood in response to eleven hypothetical positive situations. After their initial response, participants were prompted four more times to report how they would respond if their initial strategy was not working. Participants then completed a battery of self-report measures assessing psychological health variables, including measures of positive emotion and psychopathology. Coders rated the quality (effectiveness) of each strategy and assigned them to categories. Coders also rated each situation for its degree of ambiguity (how ambivalent the situation was), and whether it represented a more hedonic (i.e., short-term pleasure) or eudaimonic (i.e., long-term meaning) form of well-being. Data were analyzed with a series of correlations and regression models using the three factors above as predictors and the psychological health (PH) measures as criterion variables. Repertoire was associated with several indices of positive emotion, but was unrelated to measures of psychopathology. In contrast, persistence was unrelated to PH, except for an inverse association with intensity of positive emotion (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennifer Cheavens (Advisor); Daniel Strunk (Committee Member); Baldwin Way (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, Communication

This study aimed to elucidate the role that emotional processes play in the enjoyment of television drama. Of primary interest was negative affect, which is a primary component in all drama, but has not been fully understood in entertainment research. A 2 (CONTEXT: Present, Absent) x 2 (ENDING: Happy, Sad) fully factorial between-individual design was employed to test the effects of empathy toward protagonist and viewers' affective states on entertainment of a dramatic television program. Participants viewed a specially-constructed episode of the program "LOST," which manipulated the availability of the protagonist's back story and the hedonic valence of his eventual outcome through a happy or sad ending. Eudaimonic preference for film was measured as a covariate due to the expectation that people who prefer programs that provide opportunities for them to better know their true selves might enjoy negative endings more than those with higher hedonic preferences. Results showed that the empathy induced by providing character context interacted with ending type, resulting in sad endings being enjoyed differently, suggesting that sad endings could be more entertaining than previous theory would predict. Additionally, eudaimonic preference predicted greater entertainment of sad endings only when context was present.Another contribution of this study was the examination of entertainment, empathy, positive and negative affect as situational effects that evolve over time. To address this research question, a 2 (CONTEXT: Present, Absent) x 2 (ENDING: Happy, Sad) x 3 (TIME: t1, t2, t3) mixed design was used to tease out the temporal characteristics. Correlational analysis of dependent variables over time also showed empathy for the protagonist at Time1 was associated with negative affect and entertainment at other time points, but only when character context was presented. Results support the idea that entertainment and emotion are temporal processes that are subject to both (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Prabu David (Advisor); Osei Appiah (Committee Member); Chad Mahood (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication