Date of Award

4-22-2026

Access Restriction

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate in Education

Department

Education

School or College

School of Education

First Advisor

Manuel Ponce

Second Advisor

Ernesto Colin

Third Advisor

Glynetta Fletcher

Abstract

Social media engagement among Latinx middle school girls has been increasingly associated with harmful trends, including declining mental health, negative body image, and engagement in risky behaviors. Latinx middle school girls, along with gender minority youth, have often represented a high percentage of users vulnerable to the seductive spell of digital platforms and the subsequent rewiring of childhood. The current study used a qualitative (Creswell et al., 2007) research design featuring pláticas, a method rooted in Chicana/Latina feminist (Delgado Bernal et al., 2023) epistemologies that prioritizes embodied knowledge and resistance. Drawing upon the building blocks of social media engagement framework, the study examined the intersection of social media and chisme as a means of fostering belonging and visibility. Participant narratives revealed topics centered on the developmental need for acceptance, identity, and community. The findings highlight the motivations behind digital engagement and illustrate how educators and parents can mitigate potential harms by establishing protective factors, such as familial confianza and active extracurricular involvement, to provide alternative pathways for positive social development.

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