Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Aug 9, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 8, 2023 - Oct 3, 2023
Date Accepted: Oct 2, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Social Support-Seeking Strategies on Social Media at the Intersection of LGBTQ Identity and Race/Ethnicity: Insights for Intervention from a Qualitative Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) individuals experience a disproportionately higher prevalence of mental health challenges when compared to their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. Moreover, they exhibit increased engagement with social media platforms relative to their peers. Understanding the intersectional dynamics of their identities is crucial in elucidating effective and safe approaches to garner social support through social media channels. This exploration holds significance in informing future research endeavors and shaping targeted interventions to address the unique mental health needs of LGBTQ+ individuals
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to explore the strategies used by Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White LGBTQ+ young adults, to acquire social support from online social media. The study aimed to examine how these strategies may differ by race and ethnicity.
Methods:
We conducted semi-structured interviews with LGBTQ+ young adults aged 18-30 years recruited in the United States from social media. Of 52 participants, 23% were Black, 23% Hispanic, and 54% non-Hispanic White. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the collected data.
Results:
The analysis uncovered both divergent and convergent strategies among participants of different races/ethnicity. Black and Hispanic young adults exhibited a preference for connecting with individuals who shared similar identities, seeking safety and tailored advice. Conversely, non-Hispanic White participants demonstrated minimal preference for identity-based advice. Seeking support from anonymous sources emerged as a strategy to avoid unwanted disclosure among Hispanic participants. Furthermore, all participants emphasized the importance of content filtering with family members to cultivate positive and supportive social media experiences.
Conclusions:
This study sheds light on the strategies employed by LGBTQ+ individuals of different racial/ethnic backgrounds to seek social support from online social media platforms. The findings underscore the importance of considering race and ethnicity when examining social support-seeking behaviors on social media in LGBTQ+ populations. The identified strategies provide valuable insights for the development of interventions that aim to leverage social support from social media to benefit the mental health of Black, Hispanic and non-Hispanic White LGBTQ+ young adults.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.