How observing interactions online affects attitudes and behavioral intention toward online social support: a vicarious interactions perspective

Ample evidence shows that in-person social support can alleviate both acute and chronic pain complaints. However, less is known about the effectiveness of online social support. Disparities in availability of and access to in-person social support could make online social support a promising and cost-effective alternative. To this end we aimed to compare the effects of online versus in-person social support on pain induced with a cold-pressor task (CPT). Specifically, 62 pain-free female participants immersed their feet in cold water (1) alone, (2) in the physical presence of a supportive other, (3) while chatting with the supportive other online, and (4) while chatting online with a stranger, in a randomized order. We assessed self-reported pain intensity, pain unpleasantness, and threat value of pain, as well as pain tolerance (i.e. immersion time) and heart rate. Overall, pain intensity and unpleasantness ratings were higher in the alone condition compared to the other conditions. A similar pattern was found in pain tolerance, but the differences were not statistically significant. Heart rate increased during the CPT but was highest in the in-person support condition. Moreover, recovery after cold water immersion was slower in the alone condition compared to the other conditions. In sum, interaction with a supportive other or a stranger, be it online or in-person, led to a reduction in acute pain compared to being alone. This study presents initial evidence that online interaction with others might be an effective alternative to in-person social support in order to reduce acute pain in women. PERSPECTIVE: Online and in-person social support were equally effective in reducing acute experimental cold-pressor pain compared to being alone. There was no difference between social support from strangers or a supportive other.

Social support is essential to development, mental and emotional health, and reducing risk for psychological distress. Youth are exposed to various opportunities for socialization with peers, including through social media. Strong online social networks may be most critical for youth from isolated communities, including those from rural areas or LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc.) youth. With this study, we investigated associations between social media use and online social support among adolescents. Additionally, we compared the online experiences of rural and urban youth. We also examined associations between online social support and psychological functioning and investigated whether the strength of these relationships was moderated by community type (rural versus urban). Finally, we evaluated the online experiences of LGBT+ youth. Two hundred seventy-five participants (ages 13-19) from seven high schools located in either rural or urban communities completed a paper and pencil survey on their mental health, social media use, and online social support. Social media use was positively associated with online social support. Rural youth were found to report greater social media use and online social support compared to urban youth. Online social support was not associated with depression or anxiety; community type (rural versus urban) did not moderate the strength of these relationships. LGBT+ youth in rural communities reported greater social media use and support online compared to LGBT+ youth in urban communities. These findings shed light on the potential positive benefits of social media use as it is related to perceptions of social support among online friends. They demonstrate that interactions online may contribute to stronger support networks within adolescents, particularly among vulnerable youth. Findings suggest social media may increase accessibility to social support for youth who may be at risk for social isolation.

Purpose Online gaming offers avenue to connect with others producing social capital especially for individuals lacking in-real-life (IRL) social support; however, there is concerns related to mental health and depressive symptoms (DS). Virtually mediated social connections are particularly important during times of social distancing. This paper aims to investigate discussant networks established through an online gaming site and their possible association with DS and social support. Design/methodology/approach Participants (n = 40) recruited from an online gaming site reported DS, online and IRL social support, and site members with whom they discussed important life matters. Participants also reported topics of conversation discussed and reason for communication. Quadratic assignment procedure multiple regression was used to determined significant associations between network structure, DS and social support. Findings DS were significantly associated with online (ß = 0.39) and IRL social support (ß = −0.44). Online social support was significantly associated with network structural factors. Topics reported by members most often were bridging capital topics while topics reported by members in most recent conversation were bonding capital topics. Members mentioned bonding social capital concepts as motivation for conversation. Social implications Building online relationships to provide bonding social capital could supply buffering effects for those feeling socially isolated during social distancing. Originality/value This paper is among the first to approach online gaming communication through social network analysis and qualitative analysis mixed method approach.

The carers of persons with cognitive impairments, including Alzheimer’s have migrated to online platforms to seek help, yet studies on the use of online social support within the context of caregiving are underdeveloped. Guided by the social support theory, we examined the association of online and offline social support with depression and anxiety in the United States. Using a subsample from the 2017 and 2018 Health Information National Trends Survey (n = 264), we conducted ordered logistic regression to test mediation and moderation effects, which revealed that only offline, not online social support had a direct association with carers’ mental health. In the moderation model, online social support interacted with life stressors, while offline social support interacted with caregiving burden. Findings are supported using a hybrid model that combines online and offline social support to improve carers’ mental health.

This study investigated the university students’ resilience through online interaction’s view within a social cognition framework, in China. 525 college students were asked to complete a questionnaire consists of The Online Interaction Level Scale, the Online Social Support Scale of Adolescence and the Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale. Research Data was analyzed by using the structural equation modeling (SEM) method. The results indicated as follows: (1) The total average score of college students’ online interaction, online social support and resilience level were higher than medium critical value; (2) There was no difference in male and female’s resilience. (3) College students’ online interaction and online social support were all the positive predictor of resilience; (4) The effect of resilience of online interaction was fully mediated by online social support. By introducing the perspective of online interaction into the research of resilience, meanwhile adding new complement to the traditional structure, this study provides a new view and approach to the resilience construction research.

As a result of exponential growth in the popularity of blogging, travel blogs have demonstrated their enormous marketing potential, and have become an increasingly important mechanism for exchanging information among tourists. The present study modeled online social support and perceived value as antecedents of the impacts of influential travel bloggers on their blog members’ travel-related behavioral intentions, and examined the mediating role of sense of virtual community (SOVC) among these relationships. The analysis results herein demonstrate that online social support, perceived value, and SOVC relate significantly to blog members’ behavior intention. Furthermore, the influence of perceived value and SOVC on behavior intention are both respectively significant. With SOVC as a mediating variable, the CI indirect effect of the perceived value on travel intention did not include 0, indicating an indirect relationship between these two variables. Referring to perceived values, the findings indicates that blog members perceive the influential travel blogs as offering epistemic value more than others. These findings have theoretical implications for social media and online interaction related literature, and have critical business implications for customer to customer (C2C) marketers to distinguish themselves within the expanding number of influential travel blogs.

Despite the common advantages, such as increased life satisfaction and mental health, online social support (OSS), as a product of the digital age, has a potential negative influence on fostering problematic internet usage (PIU). Many studies have suggested that OSS is positively associated with PIU. The present study conducts a three-level meta-analysis to examine the extent to which OSS is correlated with PIU and analyzes various moderators to identify sources of research heterogeneity. After searching and screening the literature, we identified 26 studies, including 23,396 participants and 44 effect sizes, for analysis. Results showed that OSS was significantly and positively related to PIU. Moreover, moderator analyses showed that the association between OSS and PIU was moderated by the measurement of both OSS and PIU. We propose that individuals should be aware of the potential risks associated with OSS and proactively develop their offline social networks to establish a more robust social support system. This approach can potentially mitigate reliance on virtual social interactions while reducing the likelihood of problematic internet usage.

A higher number of socially anxious users were found as more users joined social network sites. Since social commerce has become an important issue, this study investigated the effect of social anxiety on online users’ social commerce intention. Online social interactions are hypothesized to influence social commerce intention directly or indirectly through online social support. 427 effective samples were collected from Facebook users, and the results confirmed most of the causal effects. The study also tested the moderating effect of social anxiety on the causal effects. Of the eight relationships, social anxiety significantly moderates six of them. The relationships between online social interaction and emotional support and between online social interaction and social commerce intention are stronger for users with higher social anxiety. For users with lower social anxiety, the relationship between social support and the receiving of social commerce intention is stronger. The research findings lead to significant theoretical contributions and managerial implications.

Social support, online social support, and problematic social media use: A three-level meta-analysis.

Health consumers engage in social interactions in online health communities (OHCs) to seek or provide social support. Automatic classification of social support exchanged online is important for both researchers and practitioners of online health communities, especially when a large number of messages are posted on regular basis. Classification of social support in OHCs provides an efficient way to assess the effectiveness of social interactions in the virtual environment. Most previous studies of online social support classification are based on “bag-of-words” assumption and have not considered the semantic meaning of words/terms embedded in the online messages. This research proposes a classification framework for online social support using the recent development of word space models and deep learning methods. Specifically, doc2vec models, bag-of-words representations, and linguistic analysis methods are used to extract features from the text messages that are posted in OHC for online social interaction or social support exchange. Then a deep learning model is applied to classify two major types of social support (i.e., informational and emotional support) expressed in OHC reply messages.

Online social support for young people: Does it recapitulate in-person social support; can it help?

Online social support via avatar communication is a powerful tool for bullying victims because they often lack offline social resources. Additionally, avatar communication allows users rich nonverbal interactions (e.g., emotional expressions) while maintaining online anonymity. This study investigates the role of online social support via avatars for victims and how to facilitate such support. Accordingly, we conducted an online questionnaire survey twice on an avatar communication application, Pigg Party, regarding mental health, offline and online social support, and offline bullying victimization (participants: 3,288 (1st wave) and 758 (2nd wave)). We found that online social support via avatars supplemented insufficient offline social resources, particularly when there was a high risk of offline bullying victimization. Furthermore, we investigated how online social support is improved by ego networks using social network data from Pigg Party. We demonstrated that belonging to large and closely connected communities can enhance online social support. Our findings suggest that avatar communication applications can improve players' mental health through online social support, reinforced by facilitating ego networks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant psychological challenges worldwide, but individuals may also experience post-traumatic growth (PTG)-positive psychological changes following adversity. Identifying factors associated with PTG during global public health crises is crucial for advancing trauma recovery research and informing evidence-based interventions. As interpersonal interactions increasingly move to virtual platforms, online social support has become a key source of psychological resilience. Yet, how online social support facilitates PTG remains unclear, especially in large-scale adversities, like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigates the association between online social support and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the mediating roles of gratitude and positive reappraisal. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in March 2022, recruiting 556 college students (70.83% female). Online social support, PTG, gratitude, and cognitive reappraisal were assessed using validated tools, including the College Students' Online Social Support Testing Questionnaire, Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Gratitude Adjective Checklist, and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). Participants reported moderate PTG levels. Online social support was positively associated with PTG and exerted both direct and indirect effects. The indirect effects occurred through a sequential mediation pathway, wherein online social support first enhanced gratitude, which in turn, promoted cognitive reappraisal, ultimately contributing to higher PTG levels. This study highlights the significant association between online social support and post-traumatic growth (PTG) during the COVID-19 pandemic, both directly and through the sequential mediating effects of gratitude and cognitive reappraisal. These findings underscore the importance of leveraging digital platforms to provide emotional and cognitive resources that support resilience and growth in times of large-scale adversity. Psychological interventions should prioritize cultivating gratitude and enhancing cognitive reappraisal skills as effective strategies to mitigate the negative psychological impacts of crises and facilitate PTG outcomes.

Online social support via avatar communication is a powerful tool for bullying victims because they often lack offline social resources. Additionally, avatar communication allows users rich nonverbal interactions (e.g., emotional expressions) while maintaining online anonymity. This study investigates the role of online social support via avatars for victims and how to facilitate such support. Accordingly, we conducted an online questionnaire survey twice on an avatar communication application, Pigg Party, regarding mental health, offline and online social support, and offline bullying victimization (participants: 3,288 (1st wave) and 758 (2nd wave)). We found that online social support via avatars supplemented insufficient offline social resources, particularly when there was a high risk of offline bullying victimization. Furthermore, we investigated how online social support is improved by ego networks using social network data from Pigg Party. We demonstrated that belonging to large and closely connected communities can enhance online social support. Our findings suggest that avatar communication applications can improve players' mental health through online social support, reinforced by facilitating ego networks.

This study examined mothers’ online community (OC) use and its structural relationship with parental stress, social support, and quality of life (QoL) under the social perspective of leisure and the theory of social support as a stress buffer. The population comprised employed mothers in two countries, Korea and Taiwan, which constitute appropriate settings for cross-cultural comparisons in the context of mothers’ OC use. The online questionnaire was distributed to 12 Korean mothers’ OCs and 14 Taiwanese mothers’ OCs, targeting employed mothers who have at least one child under seven-years-old and access mothers’ OCs on a regular basis. A total of 232 Korean and 303 Taiwanese responses were analyzed to examine the structural relationships among four key variables using structural equation modelling in AMOS 20. This study confirms that more parental stress leads to worse QoL. However, more parental stress results in less frequent participation in OCs, and OC use exerts a negative influence on QoL, which contradicts the hypothesized positive correlations. In comparison among Korean and Taiwanese mothers, Korean respondents showed a stronger influence of parental stress to mobilize more social support than did Taiwanese. This multidisciplinary study contributes to expanding the literature in noncommercial OCs, employed mothers in online leisure, and online social support in cross-cultural settings to promote the sustainability of families’ wellbeing.