In modern, technologically advanced societies, social media have been credited with playing a pivotal role in bringing about activism and social change. Is this enthusiasm for sites like Facebook and Twitter justified, or do we give social media more credit than it deserves? We decided to test the efficacy of social media in actively promoting social change by creating our own localized activist campaign, hypothesizing that we needed some sort of offline activist component to our outreach to mobilize. We created a campaign to advocate for tap water on campus. To measure our success, we looked at the analytics provided on our Facebook page and Youtube channel, as well as surveys on Survey Monkey, and connected our likes, views, and results to the dates they occurred, often in concurrence with offline events. For our offline component, we staged a flashmob to both aid in spreading our message and to compare its efficacy to the success of the facebook page. Our research was also informed by a parallel campaign conducted by a group of students in Berlin, Germany, with which our test group—a seminar class of Global Leadership Initiative freshmen—collaborated.

This research aims to discover some potential reasons individuals in college settings might choose not to disclose depressive symptoms to their primary care physicians. Depression is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders, yet many people with depressive symptoms are not treated or referred to treatment by their primary care physicians. One potential reason that individuals with depression do not undergo treatment is because patients choose not to disclose their depressive symptoms. Research has shown that stigma plays a role in whether or not individuals with mental health illness disclose symptoms in primary care settings. The present study, with data collection recently underway, utilizes an online survey containing a vignette depicting an individual with depressive symptoms. Following the vignette, participants complete several objective measures aimed at discovering correlations between stigma and depression and assessing potential reasons for depression nondisclosure. The two main variables being measured in this study are participants' attitudes regarding stigma and nondisclosure of depressive symptoms. Proposed analyses will examine associations between stigma and nondisclosure and will describe the range and scope of students’ concerns about disclosure. Proper identification of the reasons for depressive symptom nondisclosure in primary care may have implications for stigma reduction in this population and may generalize to other populations. Results may also serve to inform psychoeducational efforts aimed at increasing the likelihood of depressive symptom disclosure.

Everyone in a romantic relationship must negotiate small details in everyday life with their romantic partner. Conflict occurs when individuals disagree in terms of their needs, wants, and/ or beliefs. In this study, we examined the potential correlation between negotiation style and relationship satisfaction. Fifty-seven participants completed an online survey about their conflict styles and current level of satisfaction in their romantic relationship. The results showed a positive correlation between the tendency to use cooperative negotiation styles and reported relationship satisfaction, and a negative correlation between competitive negotiation styles and relationship satisfaction. The results indicate that how people negotiate everyday issues directly influences the amount of relational satisfaction they will experience.