Examining Discussions Related to Transgender Athletes on Twitter: The Role of Negative Emotion on Message Engagement

Abstract

Several states have enacted laws prohibiting transgender athletes from competing in sports that align with their gender identity. The present study seeks to explore the role of negative emotions and their relation to the rise of online discussions surrounding transgender athletes. We examined whether posts expressing anger and fear impacted message engagement through capturing all related posts ( N = 658,207) from September 2017 to September 2022. To determine the stance of tweets that expressed negative emotion, we then conducted a quantitative content analysis of posts expressing anger and fear. Overall, we find that posts expressing anger were associated with increased message engagement, while fear was associated with decreased engagement. Our content analysis revealed that tweets expressing either negative emotion were both in support and in opposition of issues related to transgender athletes. While it may appear that users hold a predominantly negative view towards the topic of transgender athletes due to expressed anger and fear, our study reveals they may in fact have a more diverse range of perspectives on these related issues. Practical implications are discussed.