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Navigating Political Disagreement on Social Media: How Affective Responses and Belonging Influence Unfollowing and Unfriending
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Navigating Political Disagreement on Social Media: How Affective Responses and Belonging Influence Unfollowing and Unfriending

Bingbing Zhang and Heather Shoenberger
Media and communication (Lisboa), Vol.12, 8483
12/05/2024
DOI: 10.17645/mac.8483
Appears in  UI Libraries Support Open Access
url
https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.8483View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

While recent research has demonstrated how exposure to cross-cutting political opinions intensifies politically motivated disconnectivity on social media, there has been a notable gap in examining the influence of emotions and psychological traits in this process. Guided by the theories of selective avoidance and affective intelligence, our study employed a survey through Qualtrics panel drawn from a population-matching sample (N = 498) of the US population to investigate how perceived political disagreement on social media affects decisions to unfollow and unfriend others through the induction of affective responses (e.g., anger, anxiety) and the role of psychological trait - need to belong. Controlling for demographics and political ideology, our mediation analysis revealed that perceived political disagreement was significantly related to anger, which was further positively associated with both unfollowing and unfriending on social media. Perceived political disagreement was also related to anxiety while anxiety was positively associated with individuals' behaviors of unfollowing and unfriending. Furthermore, results showed that the need to belong played a significant role in moderating the relationship between perceived political disagreement and unfriending. When perceiving the same level of political disagreement, individuals with a higher need to belong were less likely to unfriend others on social media, compared to those with a lower need to belong. However, the need to belong did not exert a significant impact on how perceived political disagreement influenced unfollowing behavior. This study contributes to understanding the nuanced dynamics of disconnectivity on social media, particularly in navigating political disagreements.
 anger social media affective responses disconnectivity anxiety need to belong political disagreement unfollowing unfriending UIOWA OA Agreement

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