Women, Stress and Coping with Tiktok

• Main Authors: Sharon Grace Kwan, Haryati Abdul Karim
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English
• Published: Penerbit Universiti Malaysia Sabah 2024
• Subjects: HM(1)-1281 Sociology; HQ1101-2030.7 Women. Feminism
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/39279/1/ABSTRACT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/39279/2/FULL%20TEXT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/39279/; https://doi.org/10.51200/manu.v35i1.5160

This research paper delves into women’s consumption of TikTok to cope with everyday stress by examining the significant meanings of TikTok to women as a coping tool, exploring women’s motivations for engaging with TikTok for stress and emotion management, and finally, investigating the relationship between women’s social and economic conditions and their consumption of TikTok for coping. Using the Media Dependency Theory, we conducted semi-structured interviews with six women from lower-income (B40) backgrounds. Our findings identified two themes: Characteristics of Stress and Coping via Consumption. These findings suggest that TikTok has several positive outcomes in women’s coping processes and emotional well-being; as such, we found that TikTok positively affects women’s moods and emotions through its various media content. TikTok is also used as a tool for women to comprehend the nature of their stressors, including gaining mutual emotional support through online discussions. Additionally, TikTok encourages women to seek self-betterment and practice healthy, effective coping strategies. The implications of this paper can help us understand the nature of stress women face in this current era, and how social media is capable of becoming an effective tool for coping.