Effects of Social Media Use

PSYC-200 Library Research Assignment
(40 points)
This LIBRARY assignment provides an opportunity for students to research a topic of interest within specific areas of Lifespan Development. The students will not only gain insight and information regarding the chosen topic, but an understanding of the process of research and its methodology. You may choose any research topic that you are interested in within any of the developmental stages that we will cover in class.
The steps for completing LIBRARY assignment
1. Choose a PRIMARY research article after we have had our LIBRARY/APA Orientation. You may utilize access to the LIBRARY from home. The directions for how to access from home will be covered during the in-class orientation.
2. Make sure that the article is a PRIMARY SOURCE. These are found in an academic journal ONLY. The author(s) must be the researcher(s) reporting on a specific study and its results. A Primary Source would include the following: a review of the literature, a description of methodology including the sample selection process, a description of the statistical analysis, a discussion on the results.
IMPORTANT - READ
You may not use only the Abstract instead of the complete article.
Your Primary source article cannot be older than 6 years, and must be at least 4 pages long!
You CANNOT use any Doctoral or Master’s dissertations for this assignment!
You CANNOT use an article that is a review of other articles!
3. After copying the reference information (see example) in APA format, summarize IN YOUR OWN WORDS the content of the article in 3-4 paragraphs. The summary should include a synopsis of the study’s intent (rationale) and hypothesis, the research methodology, including information about the sample and assessments, ending with the conclusions of the researcher(s). This summary should not include personal opinions. Your summary should be in exactly the same format as shown in the example on the next 2 pages. Your summary should be double-spaced, 300-350 words, and you must include the word count!
4. This assignment must be uploaded to Canvas. Your Reference page must have an active link to your article. Your link must work and go directly to the Journal article itself, not just to the library database page. And the link CANNOT go to the Publisher site where I have to pay money to get the full article. Double check it before handing in. If I cannot open your article you will lose points on the assignment. No doi links!!
Ideas for topics:
· Ear buds and occurrence of hearing loss
· Breastfeeding and benefits
· Aging and image
· Teens and body image
· Effects of social media or cell phone use
Researchers (Ratanasiripong, Sverduk, Prince, & Hayashino, 2012) were interested in determining if the use of biofeedback and counseling together would lead to better coping with stress and anxiety, than counseling alone. Thirty college students (20 women, 10 men) were selected from a counseling center at a large public university in the western United States. The subjects were all referred to the researchers (Ratanasiripong et al., 2012) because they exhibited symptoms of anxiety and stress during interactions with the counseling center staff.
To determine the current stress and anxiety level in each subject, researchers (Ratanasiripong et al., 2012) administered the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) at the beginning of the study. The BAI consists of 21 items, where each item is measured on a scale from 0 (not present) to 3 (severely). The subjects were then randomly assigned to either a group receiving biofeedback training and counseling, or to a group receiving counseling alone. Subjects in the experimental group received four sessions of counseling combined with four sessions of biofeedback training over a 4-week period. These subjects also each received portable biofeedback devices to be used at home between sessions. Biofeedback training sessions involved teaching each subject breathing and visualization techniques. Then while watching their heart rate on the biofeedback device, the subjects were asked to use these techniques to slow their heart rates down into a steady rhythm. Subjects in the control group received four sessions of counseling over the same 4-week period. After the 4-week period, all the subjects completed the BAI again.
The researchers (Ratanasiripong et al., 2012) found that both the control and experimental groups showed a reduction in stress and anxiety levels. In the control group, the mean post-treatment BAI score was 13.13 compared to the pre-treatment mean score of 19.80. In the experimental, the mean post-treatment score was 10.53 compared to a pre-treatment mean score 24.12. The researchers (Ratanasiripong et al., 2012) determined that while counseling alone is beneficial, the combination of biofeedback training and brief counseling sessions is a more effective method than counseling alone.
(Word count=340)