When people experience major life changes, this often impacts their self-presentation, networks, and online behavior in substantial ways. To effectively study major life transitions and events, we surveyed a large U.S. sample (n = 554) to create the Major Life Events Taxonomy, a list of 121 life events in 12 categories. We then applied this taxonomy to a second large U.S. survey sample (n = 775) to understand on average how much social readjustment each event required, how likely each event was to be shared on social media with different types of audiences, and how much online network separation each involved. We found that social readjustment is positively correlated with sharing on social media, with both broad audiences and close ties as well as in online spaces separate from one's network of known ties. Some life transitions involve high levels of sharing with both separate audiences and broad audiences on social media, providing evidence for what previous research has called social media as social transition machinery. Researchers can use the Major Life Events Taxonomy to examine how people's life transition experiences relate to their behaviors, technology use, and health and well-being outcomes.

中文翻译：

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重大生活事件分类：生活转型时期的社会调整、社交媒体信息共享和在线网络分离

当人们经历重大的生活变化时，这通常会以实质性的方式影响他们的自我展示、网络和在线行为。为了有效地研究重大的生活转变和事件，我们调查了一个大型美国样本 ( n  = 554) 以创建重大生活事件分类法，该分类法包含 12 个类别的 121 个生活事件。然后我们将此分类法应用于第二个大型美国调查样本 ( n = 775) 以了解每个事件平均需要多少社会调整，每个事件在社交媒体上与不同类型的受众共享的可能性有多大，以及每个事件涉及多少在线网络分离。我们发现，社会调整与社交媒体上的分享呈正相关，社交媒体上有广泛的受众和密切的联系，以及与已知联系网络分开的在线空间。一些生活转变涉及在社交媒体上与单独的受众和广泛的受众进行高水平的分享，这为之前的研究将社交媒体称为社会转型机制提供了证据. 研究人员可以使用重大生活事件分类法来检查人们的生活转变经历与他们的行为、技术使用以及健康和福祉结果之间的关系。