Social Support is Contagious: Exploring the Effect of Social Support in Online Mental Health Communities

It is known that social support is beneficial for mental health. With the development of social media, social support could also influence the development of online mental health communities. However, few studies examined these effects from the perspective of online mental health communities. This study focused on 22 mental health related subreddits and conducted causal analysis by matching and comparing users (1) who received social support with who did not receive social support; (2) who received positive social support with who received negative social support. The results shows that social support is “contagious”: users who received social support on their first post would be more likely and quickly to post again and provide support for others; users who received positive support would also provide more positive social support for others in the future. Our findings indicate the potential chain reaction of social support. This study also provides insights into how online mental health communities can better facilitate people to spread social support and deal with mental problems.