Previous research suggests that impression management goals and face threats can be barriers to seeking support, especially among college students and those facing severe problems that are highly stigmatized. In such cases, technologically-mediated communication channels (TMCCs) may be an important resource because they have unique affordances that can help overcome impression concerns and thereby promote well-being. To examine this possibility, the present study explored how impression goals, problem severity, perceived stigma, and perceived affordances interact to affect comfort with seeking support. Contrary to expectations, results from an online survey of undergraduate students (N = 183) indicated that problem severity was not associated with levels of comfort with seeking support, and the interaction of stigma with impression goals had an unexpected positive effect. Furthermore, TMCCs affording persistence and conversation control facilitated comfort with support seeking as stigma increased. Possible explanations for these findings and implications for scholarship on TMCCs and social support are discussed.
AlbrechtT. L.GoldsmithD. J. (2003). Social support, social networks, and health. In ThompsonT. L.DorseyA.ParrottR.MillerK. (Eds), The Routledge handbook of health communication (1st ed., pp. 277–298). Routledge.
2.
ArroyoA.CurranT.RuppelE. K. (2022). Direct and indirect associations among self-disclosure skills, social support, and psychosocial outcomes during the transition to college. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 39(3), 505–525. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211036741
3.
ArsandauxJ.MontagniI.MacalliM.TexierN.PourielM.GermainR.MebarkiA.KinouaniS.TournierM.SchuckS.TzourioC. (2021). Mental health condition of college students compared to non-students during COVID-19 lockdown: The CONFINS study. BMJ Open, 11(8), e053231. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053231
4.
BarkerG. (2007). Adolescents, social support and help-seeking behaviour: An international literature review and programme consultation with recommendations for action. WHO discussion papers on adolescence, 2007.
BuehlerE. M.PetersonA. M.HighA. C. (2018). Investigating the role of problem severity and channel publicness on the sophistication of support-seeking messages on social network sites: A replication study. Communication Studies, 69(3), 304–313. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2018.1463275
8.
BurlesonB. K.MacGeorgeE. L. (2002). Supportive communication. In KnappM. L.DalyJ. A. (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication (3rd ed., pp. 374–424). Sage.
9.
BurlesonB. R.HanasonoL. K.BodieG. D.HolmstromA. J.McCulloughJ. D.RackJ. J.RosierJ. G. (2011). Are gender differences in responses to supportive communication a matter of ability, motivation, or both? Reading patterns of situation effects through the lens of a dual-process theory. Communication Quarterly, 59(1), 37–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2011.541324
10.
CaplanS. E.TurnerJ. S. (2007). Bringing theory to research on computer-mediated comforting communication. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(2), 985–998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2005.08.003
11.
ChenG.KirkmanB. L.KanferR.AllenD.RosenB. (2007). A multilevel study of leadership, empowerment, and performance in teams. Journal of Applied Psychology,92(2), 331–346. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.2.331
CorriganP. W.KosylukK. A.RüschN. (2013). Reducing self-stigma by coming out proud. American Journal of Public Health, 103(5), 794–800. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301037
14.
CutronaC.RussellD. (1990). Type of social support and specific stress: Toward a theory of optimal matching. In SarasonB.SarasonI.PierceG. (Eds.), Social support: An interactional view (pp. 319–366). Wiley.
15.
DeAndreaD. C. (2015). Testing the proclaimed affordances of online support groups in a nationally representative sample of adults seeking mental health assistance. Journal of Health Communication, 20(2), 147–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2014.914606
16.
De ChoudhuryM.DeS. (2014, May). Mental health discourse on Reddit: Self- disclosure, social support, and anonymity. Proceedings of the Eighth international AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, 8(1), 71–80. https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v8i1.14526
17.
DillardJ. P.SegrinC.HardenJ. M. (1989). Primary and secondary goals in the production of interpersonal influence messages. Communications Monographs, 56, 19–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637758909390247
18.
DuffyM. E.TwengeJ. M.JoinerT. E. (2019). Trends in mood and anxiety symptoms and suicide-related outcomes among U.S. undergraduates, 2007–2018: Evidence from two national surveys. Journal of Adolescent Health65(5), 590–598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.04.033
19.
EndersC. T.TofighiD. (2007). Centering predictor variables in cross-sectional multilevel models: A new look at an old issue. Psychological Methods, 12, 121–138. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.12.2.121
20.
EvansS. K.PearceK. E.VitakJ.TreemJ. W. (2017). Explicating affordances: A conceptual framework for understanding affordances in communication research. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 22(1), 35–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12180
21.
FengB.LiS.LiN. (2016). Is a profile worth a thousand words? How online support-seeker’s profile features may influence the quality of received support messages. Communication Research, 43(2), 253–276. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650213510942
22.
FoxJ.McEwanB. (2017). Distinguishing technologies for social interaction: The perceived social affordances of communication channels scale. Communication Monographs, 84(3), 298–318. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2017.1332418
GoffmanE. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Doubleday Anchor.
27.
GoffmanE. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Touchstone.
28.
GoldsmithD.ParksM. R. (1990). Communicative strategies for managing the risks of seeking social support. In DuckS. (Ed.), Personal relationships and social support (pp. 104–121). Sage.
29.
GulliverA.GriffithsK. M.ChristensenH. (2010). Perceived barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young people: A systematic review. BMC Psychiatry, 10(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-10-113
HighA. C.BuehlerE. M. (2019). Receiving supportive communication from Facebook friends: A model of social ties and supportive communication in social network sites. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 36(3), 719–740. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0265407517742978
32.
HighA. C.RuppelE. K.McEwanB.CaughlinJ. P. (2023). Computer-mediated communication and well-being in the age of social media: A systematic review. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 0(0), 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221106449
33.
HuL. T.BentlerP. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 61, 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118
HunterJ. E.GerbingD. W. (1982). Unidimensional measurement, second order factor analysis, and causal models. Research in Organizational Behavior, 4, 267–320. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639402000408
36.
JohnsonS. L.MeyerB.WinettC.SmallJ. (2000). Social support and self-esteem predict changes in bipolar depression but not mania. Journal of Affective Disorders, 58(1), 79–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0327(99)00133-0
37.
JohnstoneM. J. (2001). Stigma, social justice and the rights of the mentally ill: Challenging the status quo. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 10(4), 200–209. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-0979.2001.00212.x
38.
KoranJ. (2020). Indicators per factor in confirmatory factor analysis: More is not always better. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 27, 765–772. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2019.1706527
KuznetsovaA.BrockhoffP. B.ChristensenR. H. B. (2017). lmerTest package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software, 82(13), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v082.i13
41.
LearyM. R.KowalskiR. M. (1990). Impression management: A literature review and two- component model. Psychological Bulletin, 107(1), 34–47. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.1.34
42.
LiS.FengB.LiN.TanX. (2015). How social context cues in online support-seeking influence self-disclosure in support provision. Communication Quarterly, 63(5), 586–602. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463373.2015.1078389
43.
LimV. K.TeoT. S.ZhaoX. (2013). Psychological costs of support seeking and choice of communication channel. Behaviour & Information Technology, 32(2), 132–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2010.518248
44.
LuW.HamptonK. N. (2017). Beyond the power of networks: Differentiating network structure from social media affordances for perceived social support. New Media & Society, 19(6), 861–879. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444815621514
MarwickA. E.boydd. (2011). I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience. New Media & Society, 13(1), 114–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810365313
47.
MorenoM. A.JelenchickL. A.EganK. G.CoxE.YoungH.GannonK. E.BeckerT. (2011). Feeling bad on Facebook: Depression disclosures by college students on a social networking site. Depression and Anxiety, 28(6), 447–455. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20805
OhH. J.LaRoseR. (2016). Impression management concerns and support-seeking behavior on social network sites. Computers in Human Behavior, 57, 38–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.005
50.
O’SullivanB. (2000). What you don’t know won’t hurt me: Impression management functions of communication channels in relationships. Human Communication Research, 26(3), 403–431. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2000.tb00763.x
51.
ÖzkulD.HumphreysL. (2015). Record and remember: Memory and meaning-making practices through mobile media. Mobile Media & Communication, 3(3), 351–365. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157914565846
52.
R Core Team. (2022). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. https://www.r-project.org/
53.
RiceR. E. (1993). Media appropriateness: Using social presence theory to compare traditional and new organizational media. Human Communication Research, 19(4), 451–484. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1993.tb00309.x
SchnyderN.PanczakR.GrothN.Schultze-LutterF. (2017). Association between mental health-related stigma and active help-seeking: Systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 210(4), 261–268. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.116.189464
56.
ShortJ.WilliamsE.ChristieB. (1976). The social psychology of telecommunications. Wiley.
57.
SingerJ. D.WillettJ. B. (2003). Applied longitudinal data analysis: Modeling change and event occurrence. Oxford University Press.
58.
SmithR.RossettoK.PetersonB. L. (2008). A metaanalysis of disclosure of one’s HIV-positive status, stigma and social support. AIDS Care, 20(10), 1266–1275. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540120801926977
SnijdersT. A. (2005). Power and sample size in multilevel modeling. In EverittB. S.HowellD. C. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of statistics in behavioral science (Vol. 3, pp. 1570–1573). Wiley.
61.
SpitzerR. L.KroenkeK.WilliamsJ. B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092–1097. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092
62.
StoycheffE. (2016). Under surveillance: Examining Facebook’s spiral of silence effects in the wake of NSA internet monitoring. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 93(2), 296–311. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699016630255
63.
UchinoB. N. (2009). Understanding the links between social support and physical health: A life-span perspective with emphasis on the separability of perceived and received support. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(3), 236–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01122.x
64.
UchinoB. N.CarlisleM.BirminghamW.VaughnA. A. (2011). Social support and the reactivity hypothesis: Conceptual issues in examining the efficacy of received support during acute psychological stress. Biological Psychology, 86(2), 137–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.04.003
65.
VogelD. L.WesterS. R. (2003). To seek help or not to seek help: The risks of self-disclosure. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50(3), 351. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.50.3.351
66.
WaltherJ. B. (2007). Selective self-presentation in computer-mediated communication: Hyperpersonal dimensions of technology, language, and cognition. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(5), 2538–2557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2006.05.002
WrightK. (2000). Perceptions of on‐line support providers: An examination of perceived homophily, source credibility, communication and social support within on‐line support groups. Communication Quarterly, 48(1), 44–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/01463370009385579
69.
WrightK. B.BellS. B., (2003). Health-related support groups on the Internet: Linking empirical findings to social support and computer-mediated communication theory. Journal of Health Psychology, 8(1), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105303008001429
70.
YarcheskiT. J.MahonN. E.YarcheskiA. (2003). Social support, self-esteem, and positive health practices of early adolescents. Psychological Reports, 92(1), 99–103. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.2003.92.1.99
71.
Yeshua-KatzD.Hård af SegerstadY. (2020). Catch 22: The paradox of social media affordances and stigmatized online support groups. Social Media and Society, 6(4), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120984476
72.
Yeshua-KatzD.RainsS. A.PetersonE. B.WrightK. B. (2020). Digital stigma coping strategies: A meta-analytic review of the association between health-related stigma dimensions and social support messages shared online. The Information Society, 36(1), 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2019.1685038
73.
ZhangR. (2017). The stress-buffering effect of self-disclosure on Facebook: An examination of stressful life events, social support, and mental health among college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 527–537. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.05.043
74.
ZhaoP.LapierreM. A.RainsS. A.SegrinC. (2021). When and why we disclose distress on SNSs: Perceived affordances, disclosure goals, and anticipated negative evaluations. Computers in Human Behavior, 125, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106964
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
