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Participant behavior and community response in online mental health communities: Insights from Reddit.

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Title: Participant behavior and community response in online mental health communities: Insights from Reddit.
Authors: Morini, Virginia1,2 (AUTHOR) virginia.morini@phd.unipi.it, Sansoni, Maria3 (AUTHOR), Rossetti, Giulio2 (AUTHOR), Pedreschi, Dino1 (AUTHOR), Castillo, Carlos4,5 (AUTHOR)
Source: Computers in Human Behavior. Apr2025, Vol. 165, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
Subject Terms: *Community health services, *Demographic characteristics, *Behavior, *Information services, *Experience, Mental health, Social support, Online information services, User interfaces, Patient participation, Psychosocial factors
Abstract: The growing presence of online mutual-help communities has significantly changed how people access and provide mental health (MH) support. While extensive research has explored self-disclosure and social support dynamics within these communities, less is known about users' distinctive behavioral patterns, posting intents, and community response. This study analyzed a large-scale, five-year Reddit dataset of 67 MH-related subreddits, comprising over 3.4 million posts and 24 million comments from approximately 2.4 million users. We categorized subreddits based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and compared the behavioral patterns in these communities with Reddit non-MH ones. Leveraging Reddit's post flair feature, we defined a ground truth for post intents and applied an automated classification method to infer intents across the dataset. We then used causal inference analysis to assess the effect of community responses on subsequent user behavior. Our analysis revealed that MH-related subreddits featured unique characteristics in content length, throwaway account usage, user actions, persistence, and community response. These online behaviors mirrored those in other mutual-help Reddit communities and resonated with offline patterns while diverging from non-support-oriented subreddits. We also found that seeking support and venting are the predominant posting intents, with users tending to maintain consistent intents over time. Furthermore, we observed that receiving comments and reactions significantly influenced users' follow-up engagement, fostering increased participation. These findings highlight the supportive role of online MH communities and emphasize the need for tailored design to optimize user experience and support for individuals facing MH challenges. • Analysis of 69 Reddit mental health communities reveals distinct behavioral patterns. • Mental health subreddits mirror mutual-help forums, differ from non-support ones. • Novel method for identifying actual users posting intents using Reddit post flairs. • Seeking support and venting are primary posting intents, most consistent over time. • Community responses significantly influence users' follow-up behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Computers in Human Behavior is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Participant behavior and community response in online mental health communities: Insights from Reddit.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Morini%2C+Virginia%22">Morini, Virginia</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> virginia.morini@phd.unipi.it</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sansoni%2C+Maria%22">Sansoni, Maria</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Rossetti%2C+Giulio%22">Rossetti, Giulio</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Pedreschi%2C+Dino%22">Pedreschi, Dino</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Castillo%2C+Carlos%22">Castillo, Carlos</searchLink><relatesTo>4,5</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Computers+in+Human+Behavior%22">Computers in Human Behavior</searchLink>. Apr2025, Vol. 165, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Community+health+services%22">Community health services</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Demographic+characteristics%22">Demographic characteristics</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Behavior%22">Behavior</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Information+services%22">Information services</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Experience%22">Experience</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mental+health%22">Mental health</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+support%22">Social support</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Online+information+services%22">Online information services</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22User+interfaces%22">User interfaces</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Patient+participation%22">Patient participation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Psychosocial+factors%22">Psychosocial factors</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: The growing presence of online mutual-help communities has significantly changed how people access and provide mental health (MH) support. While extensive research has explored self-disclosure and social support dynamics within these communities, less is known about users' distinctive behavioral patterns, posting intents, and community response. This study analyzed a large-scale, five-year Reddit dataset of 67 MH-related subreddits, comprising over 3.4 million posts and 24 million comments from approximately 2.4 million users. We categorized subreddits based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and compared the behavioral patterns in these communities with Reddit non-MH ones. Leveraging Reddit's post flair feature, we defined a ground truth for post intents and applied an automated classification method to infer intents across the dataset. We then used causal inference analysis to assess the effect of community responses on subsequent user behavior. Our analysis revealed that MH-related subreddits featured unique characteristics in content length, throwaway account usage, user actions, persistence, and community response. These online behaviors mirrored those in other mutual-help Reddit communities and resonated with offline patterns while diverging from non-support-oriented subreddits. We also found that seeking support and venting are the predominant posting intents, with users tending to maintain consistent intents over time. Furthermore, we observed that receiving comments and reactions significantly influenced users' follow-up engagement, fostering increased participation. These findings highlight the supportive role of online MH communities and emphasize the need for tailored design to optimize user experience and support for individuals facing MH challenges. • Analysis of 69 Reddit mental health communities reveals distinct behavioral patterns. • Mental health subreddits mirror mutual-help forums, differ from non-support ones. • Novel method for identifying actual users posting intents using Reddit post flairs. • Seeking support and venting are primary posting intents, most consistent over time. • Community responses significantly influence users' follow-up behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Computers in Human Behavior is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=182639752
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1016/j.chb.2024.108544
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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      Pagination:
        PageCount: 1
        StartPage: N.PAG
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Community health services
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Demographic characteristics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Behavior
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Information services
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Experience
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mental health
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social support
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Online information services
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: User interfaces
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Patient participation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychosocial factors
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Participant behavior and community response in online mental health communities: Insights from Reddit.
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            NameFull: Morini, Virginia
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            NameFull: Sansoni, Maria
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            NameFull: Rossetti, Giulio
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            NameFull: Pedreschi, Dino
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            NameFull: Castillo, Carlos
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            – D: 01
              M: 04
              Text: Apr2025
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
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              Value: 165
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