Open AccessEmotional disclosures and reciprocal support: The effect of account type and anonymity on supportive communication over the largest parenting forum on Reddit
Author(s) -
Mann Supreet,
Carter Michael C.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
human behavior and emerging technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 2578-1863
DOI - 10.1002/hbe2.284
Subject(s) - anonymity , interpersonal communication , psychology , self disclosure , social support , variety (cybernetics) , emotional support , social media , social psychology , online discussion , reciprocal , internet privacy , political science , world wide web , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , artificial intelligence , law
Online support forums allow users to seek advice, information, and emotional support on a variety of issues. Today's parents navigate unique stressors both off‐ and on‐line, and online forums can provide parents with the social support they need to address contemporary parenting issues. Research examining social support processes in parenting forums is lacking. This study examines the interpersonal support process within the largest Reddit parenting forum, r/Parenting, to understand how anonymity plays a role in the emotional self‐disclosure of the parent‐poster and subsequent commenter support. Comments and posts made to r/Parenting were collected using Reddit's API in February of 2020 with a final sample of 118,277 posts and 697,095 comments. Results suggest the use of throwaway accounts is an important factor in the way emotional self‐disclosure occurs both in posts and comments. This paves the way for further research examining interpersonal processes and the impact online support has on family communication through parent support.