Previously submitted to: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting (no longer under consideration since Feb 13, 2026)
Date Submitted: Feb 10, 2026
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Discussions of Autism Parenting, Social Support, and Stigma in the r/Autism_Parenting Reddit Community
ABSTRACT
Background:
Online communities provide a space for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to discuss social support needs and experiences with ASD-related stress and stigma.
Objective:
This study examined discussions in the Reddit community r/Autism_Parenting (N=971 posts published in October 2024).
Methods:
We trained a large language model to code posts based on the presence of social support types (informational, emotional, network), positive and negative sentiment, and mentions of stigma, health concerns, or social disruptions. We used chi-square tests to examine associations between post characteristics and t-tests to assess if the presence of post characteristics led to increased engagement.
Results:
Results showed that informational (65.1%) and emotional (53.3%) were the most mentioned types of social support; network support was less common (11.6%). Posts mentioning informational support (X2=55.35; p<.001), emotional support (X2=325.75; p<.001), and general health concerns (X2=284.15; p<.001) were associated with negative sentiment. Posts that mentioned (vs. not) emotional support received higher engagement (M=5.71 vs. M=11.37, p<.001), whereas mentions of network support (vs. not) received less engagement (M=9.23 vs. M=4.91, p < .001).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that clinicians and other support professionals should highlight the value of online peer communities as a supplemental resource for families coping with autism-related challenges.
Citation
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