Facebook Use between College Resident Advisors’ and Their Residents: A Mixed Methods Approach

Abstract

Facebook use is nearly ubiquitous among college students. Studies have shown links between Facebook displays of depression or problem drinking and risk of these problems. This project aimed to determine whether Facebook could be used to help Resident Advisors (RAs) identify college students at risk for depression or problem drinking. Interviews were conducted with college freshmen to investigate whether they were Facebook “friends” with their RA. Focus groups were conducted with RAs to determine their views on Facebook friending their dormitory residents and using Facebook to help identify at-risk students. 72 freshmen were interviewed and 25 RAs participated in focus groups; both agreed it is common for RAs and residents to be Facebook friends. RAs commonly noted references to depression and problem drinking on residents’ Facebook pages, which often led to in-person discussions with the resident. This study provides support that RAs use Facebook to identify issues that may impact their student residents. RAs emphasized benefits of in-person interactions in order to provide support and obtain additional details about the situation. Universities could consider whether providing RA education about Facebook interactions with residents merits encouragement within their existing RA training programs.

Introduction

The transition to college is a challenging time for freshmen and may increase risks for negative health concerns such as depression or problem alcohol use.¹ Previous research has shown that almost half of college students from multiple universities indicated that they had “felt so depressed it was difficult to function” at least once within the previous school year.² The consequences of depression are significant as they include academic impairment, withdrawal from college, increased risk of self-injury, suicide attempts, and other risky behaviors.³ Several factors contribute to the prevalence of depression among college students including the increased time demands, the need to master new skills and being away from their established social support systems.³ Despite the high prevalence of depression in the college student population, only 10% of college students report having sought care for depression.² Several barriers to help-seeking in student populations have been identified; these include a lack of time, privacy concerns, lack of emotional openness, and financial constraints.⁴

Another major health concern among college students is alcohol use. Recent data has shown that 45% of U.S. college students report engaging in heavy episodic drinking, defined as 5 or more drinks in one sitting for men and 4 or more drinks in one sitting for women, at least once in a two week period.⁵ Problem drinking can lead to negative impacts on the college student’s life, including academic impairment, addiction, and injuries; it also poses a risk to other students and to the community.⁶ This heavy drinking among college students has often been attributed to their newfound freedom from parental supervision and the prevalence of a social culture that accepts underage drinking.⁶ Similar to low help-seeking among college students with depression, it is estimated that only 15% of individuals who suffer from alcohol-related difficulties seek professional help, despite the availability of effective treatments for alcohol problems.¹

It is possible that risks related to both depression and problem drinking could be mitigated for freshmen students who live in a residence hall and have a Resident Advisor (RA). College students who live in a residence hall are typically assigned an RA who is a peer leader in charge of maintaining a positive environment and dealing with any problems that may arise on his or her floor. One of the RA’s roles is that of a counselor, as students undergo many adjustments and stresses throughout the academic year.⁷ The RA has an opportunity to provide education and support to students who are experiencing minor problems and to identify students who are experiencing major problems.⁷ To provide support and assistance, the RA is typically trained to establish a positive and friendly relationship with every person in their living unit so that students are willing to share personal information.⁷ However, there are often high ratios of students to RAs that can make it difficult for an RA to develop consistent and meaningful relationships with each resident.⁸ Due to this high ratio of students, it can also be difficult for the RA to identify a resident that is at risk if the resident does not directly ask the RA for help.

Students who are worried about asking for help face-to-face may turn to the internet to decrease the feeling of anxiety.⁹ Facebook is a popular website that allows a user to create a profile, display personal information, upload pictures, access other users’ profiles, accumulate online friends, and interact with those friends through messages and applications.¹⁰ Thus, Facebook may represent a new tool that RAs could use to maintain connections to their residents or to identify concerns. Although references to depression and alcohol are commonly seen on Facebook,^11,12 it is not known whether RAs could use Facebook for early identification of a student resident that may be having problems with depression or alcohol, or whether freshmen students and RAs are willing to interact on Facebook. Understanding how RAs and their dorm residents interact on Facebook can assist universities in considering whether to incorporate additional education about communication via social networking sites into their current RA training program. The purpose of this study was to determine views from both college freshmen and RAs regarding acceptability of Facebook “friending,” and whether Facebook could be used as an innovative tool to help RAs identify college students with concerns such as depression or problem drinking. The social networking site Facebook was chosen based on its extensive use among college students and the opportunity for interaction among college freshmen and their RAs.

Methods

Study setting

This study used both interviews and focus groups. Data was collected between February of 2009 and April of 2011 at a large Midwestern university. The university’s Institutional Review Board approved this study.

Subjects

Individual face-to-face interviews were conducted with 18 and 19 year old undergraduate freshmen. A total of four focus groups were conducted with RAs. Focus group size varied from five to seven participants and each group consisted of both males and females. Participants did not know each other prior to the focus group.

Recruitment

Freshmen participants for this study were identified using the social networking site Facebook (www.Facebook.com). As part of a larger ongoing study investigating college health behaviors and Facebook, we investigated publicly available Facebook profiles of freshmen undergraduate students within one large state university Facebook network. This university included approximately 5000 freshmen of whom approximately half are female and approximately 20% are of minority ethnic background. Because this study focused on evaluating screening approaches that could be applied to publicly available profiles, profile owners with private security settings were excluded. To be included in the study, profile owners were required to self-report their age as 18 to 19 years old and provide evidence of profile activity in the last 30 days. We only included profiles for which we could contact the profile owner to invite them to the interview by calling a phone number listed on either the university directory or Facebook profile. A total of 188 profiles were eligible for evaluation. For profiles that met inclusion criteria, profile owners were called on their phone. After verifying identity, the study was explained and profile owners were invited to participate in an interview about college student health. Respondents who completed the interview were provided a $50 incentive.

RAs were recruited by contacting the RA organization of the university. Inclusion criteria for focus groups were to be a current undergraduate student and an RA of a dormitory on campus. A list of current RAs was provided and RAs were contacted by email and invited to participate in a focus group. Participants received a meal and a nominal gift card.

Procedures

Interviews with college freshmen were conducted one-on-one with a trained interviewer as part of the larger study and were audio recorded. The two questions pertinent to the current study were: “Is your RA a Facebook friend?” and if so, the participant was asked “who sent out the request for that friendship?” Interviews lasted approximately twenty minutes.

Focus groups with the RAs were audio recorded after informed consent was obtained. Each group was facilitated by one or two trained moderators and followed a semi-structured format. RAs were encouraged to discuss whether they “friend” their residents on Facebook, along with how and whether they use Facebook in their role as an RA. They were also asked how they would react if they saw a concerning status update or picture on a resident’s Facebook profile, such as a reference to depression or problem drinking. Participants were then asked to discuss their views on using Facebook to identify residents that may be at risk for harm. Each focus group lasted between 60 and 90 minutes.

Analysis

Interview data was fully transcribed and descriptive statistics were calculated. Tape recorded data from focus groups was also fully transcribed and analyzed manually. All transcripts were coded by three investigators for themes present in the data using the constant comparative method.¹³ Data from each focus group was first analyzed by each individual, after which the three investigators met to discuss themes through an iterative process.^14–16 Through this process, a merged document of themes and representative quotations was created.

The researchers employed the following strategies to ensure that the concepts of validity, including “credibility,” “transferability,” and reliability as “dependability,”¹⁷ were met. Data was analyzed by three different investigators to establish reliability. Themes were considered to be reliable when they were recognized by all investigators. This discussion increased both the reliability and validity of the themes.

Results

A total of 72 freshmen completed the interview (68% response rate). Fifty six percent of interview participants were male. A total of 25 RAs participated in four focus groups. Seventy percent of focus group participants were female.

Interviews

Twenty-nine of the interviewed freshmen participants (40%) indicated that they were Facebook friends with their RA. Of those twenty-nine participants, 17 had sent the friend request to their RA and 12 had received the friend request from their RA.

Focus Groups

Three themes were identified in our data and all themes were discussed qualitatively within every focus group.

Theme 1: Prevalence of Facebook “friending” between RA and resident

The frequency of RAs friending their residents on Facebook was discussed during the focus groups. The majority of RAs indicated that they were Facebook friends with many of their residents:

“Most of mine [are friends with me on Facebook]…I actually went down my roster and befriended them…So, some of them befriended me. Most of them did. I would say, probably, out of my 45, mmm maybe five haven’t. So, like probably 40.”

“I made a point to friend all my residents.”

“This is my second year [as an RA] and last year I didn’t use Facebook at all. This year, I have, I’m actually friends with most of my residents on Facebook.”

A minority of the participants said that they, or other RAs that they know, refrain from friending their residents on Facebook:

“Well, there are a number of RAs that refuse [to friend their residents].”

When discussing RAs that refused to friend their residents, the most common reason given was that the RA wanted to keep their private life separate from their role as an RA. Some RAs also mentioned that certain RAs did not want their residents to view the RA’s own displays of alcohol use.

Theme 2: RAs use Facebook to Identify and Address Resident Issues

Most RAs had viewed the Facebook pages of their residents. RAs reported that they had seen references to issues such as depression, problem drinking, homesickness and academic problems on the Facebook pages of their residents. These references were most commonly found in status updates or pictures. RAs described using Facebook to identify not just whether or not residents display depression or problem drinking, but patterns in display over time. RAs explained that these patterns may then trigger the RA to seek out time to talk with the residents. One RA described:

“Pictures speak volumes-when I am seeing Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday pictures, and they are all of them getting really, really drunk or captions of things saying ‘look, I was so wasted,’ that to me is really concerning. So I’ve had conversations with residents where I say, ‘hey, I am seeing this as a consistent trend.”

RAs also discussed how Facebook can be a unique way to gain insight into a resident who is not comfortable or able to discuss his or her concerns in offline settings. One RA explained:

“A couple of my residents tell me verbally that they’re fine, but I’ll be on Facebook and I’ll notice, like ‘I’m so failing a class.’ That’s somebody I need to go talk to. Or, “Oh my god,×broke up with x.’ I’ll go talk with that person because they were really involved in this relationship, or whatever. In terms of that, it’s kind of nice. Like another pair of eyes that I just don’t have.”

Some RAs commented that the fact that the concern is displayed on Facebook gives the impression that it is then acceptable to bring that topic up in conversation, example quotes include:

“I think it can be kind of a way for them to ask for help without actually asking. And if they are putting it out there for all 400 of their friends to see, and they know that you are a friend, I think it would be fine to go up to them and say ‘hey, I saw this, what’s going on?”

“It makes you more able to address [the problem] when it is put into such a public sphere [Facebook].”

Theme 3: Offline Relationships are Paramount

RAs reported that, although they may initially learn of an issue with a resident through Facebook, the follow up should be face-to-face with the resident. The importance of the offline relationship with students was emphasized for the purpose of helping the resident feel comfortable talking to the RA. RAs agreed that if they suspect there is a problem with a resident, that problem should be communicated face to face. One RA explained:

“Facebook can be a nice indicator but knowing them, and again, having relationships with them-that I thought was the best way to be a supportive force to them and if they knew that I was there they could come up to me in the hallway…”

RAs also commented that knowing their residents allows them to determine the meaning or seriousness of a given Facebook post.

“You have to take things with a grain of salt, and it really comes down to evidence and especially knowing their track record. There are some people on my floor that if they posted one thing that was negative you would go in because in their track record they would never post that, but somebody else might post stuff like that all the time so it all comes down to knowing them. I think if you decide to approach them, knowing how to approach them is pretty important.”

Discussion

This study provides an assessment of ways in which RAs use Facebook to identify concerning issues that may impact their residents. Findings illustrated that many freshmen are already Facebook friends with their RAs, and that Facebook is useful as an indicator of problems such as depression or problem drinking, but that follow up, education and referral to resources must be conducted in person.

RAs reported that they have seen references to depression and problem drinking on Facebook. It may not be surprising that RAs have seen these concerns on Facebook as they are all common issues experienced by college students¹⁸ and the internet provides an indirect way for students to voice their problems or possibly ask for help.¹⁹ Previous work has also illustrated that both depression and problem alcohol use are displayed on Facebook by college students.^{11, 12} The RAs noted that Facebook provides a way to identify specific concerns of an individual resident on Facebook, as well as detect patterns in display over time, which allows them to get to the center of the problem and find a way to address it quickly. It is possible that many of these students previously would go unnoticed due to the large number of students per RA.

Although the RAs stated that they may initially learn of an issue with a resident through Facebook, they agreed that online interaction with that resident should not be a substitute for face-to-face interaction. RAs may be an ideal group to view these concerns and address any problems since they are trained to personally address the problems that commonly affect college students.²⁰ RAs emphasized the benefits of face-to-face interactions in order to provide support and obtain additional details about the situation that may not be displayed on Facebook. They also commented that knowing the resident allows them to determine how to interpret a given Facebook display of a concerning issue.

A limitation of this study is that the RAs and students who participated in the focus groups and interviews all attended the same university; therefore, it is not known whether RAs or students at other universities would have similar responses. Our small sample size was appropriate for the qualitative approaches applied in this study, but future studies with larger numbers of RAs is needed to more fully assess the ideas and concepts introduced in this pilot evaluation. The findings of this study suggest that universities should recognize that Facebook is a popular and powerful tool that many RAs may already be using to communicate with their residents. Some universities may wish to consider whether discussions about Facebook interactions with residents merit discussion or structure within their existing RA educational training programs. It should also be noted that not all RAs may be willing to friend their residents. For the RAs that are comfortable Facebook friending their residents, Facebook may be a tool for RAs to use to stay involved with residents and to identify residents that may need help with issues such as depression and problem drinking. If a student is displaying warning signs on his or her Facebook profile and an RA notices, the student may be able to receive help quickly since the RA is trained in recognizing and dealing with those types of problems. However, RAs should be reminded that maintaining an offline relationship with the residents is still extremely important for them and a critical part of the role they play in the residence hall. Additionally, it is possible that RAs could provide health education messages using Facebook on topics such as stress reduction. In conclusion, this study provides new ways in which RAs can enhance their already-rich toolbox in identifying college students that are at risk and providing them support and resources.

Biographies

Lauren Kacvinsky is a Clinical Research Associate in the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. Lauren graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012 with a degree in Biology.

Megan Moreno is an Associate Professor in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Her background training includes master’s degrees in educational psychology and public health, as well as a fellowship in adolescent medicine. Her research interests include how adolescents choose to represent their health using media such as social networking web sites.