#Happyanniversary: Gender and age differences in spouses’ and partners’ Twitter greetings

Alan Reifman,Mckinley Thacker,Mykaela Ursua-Benitez,Emma Willis-Grossmann,Sylvia Niehuis

doi:10.5964/ijpr.v14i1.3799

Alan Reifman, Mckinley Thacker + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v14i1.3799

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Abstract

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.

Highlights

Research and theory suggest that men, on average, are inhibited from expressing vulnerable emotions such as love, whereas women do so more readily
Gonzalez and Koestner (2006) compared men’s and women’s Valentine’s greetings for their spouses or partners in personal ads from the Montreal newspaper The Gazette. These authors premised their study on gender socialization differences and prior literature showing that “men feel less comfortable than women do in expressing vulnerable emotions” (p. 768), including love, but that men are more likely to express pride
Do men and women differ in the kinds of anniversary messages they send to their spouses or partners via this platform? Given possible generational differences in social media use (Prada et al, 2018; Twenge, 2017), we investigated age differences in anniversary tweets

Summary

Introduction

Research and theory suggest that men, on average, are inhibited from expressing vulnerable emotions such as love, whereas women do so more readily. Research suggests that boys and men, on average, are more inhibited than are girls and women from expressing emotions that can make one seem “soft,” “weak,” or vulnerable to rejection, including love. As one example, Gonzalez and Koestner (2006) compared men’s and women’s Valentine’s greetings for their spouses or partners in personal ads from the Montreal newspaper The Gazette. These authors premised their study on gender socialization differences and prior literature showing that “men feel less comfortable than women do in expressing vulnerable emotions” Today’s social media accounts, whether on Twitter or other services, give any user a permanent platform from which to post messages on a continuous basis, perhaps multiple messages per day and thousands per year

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