Finding similar others online: Predictors of social support outcomes in online communities for multiracial people

Are active and passive social media use related to mental health, wellbeing, and social support outcomes? A meta-analysis of 141 studies

“…It is well-documented that people prefer interacting with similar others, and that feeling part of a group or community is associated with social and emotional benefits (Knowles & Gardner, 2008). SM groups may confer similar benefits, particularly when similar others are difficult to access offline (Godard & Holtzman, 2023;Waytz & Gray, 2018). Drawing on the extended active-passive model, active engagement within SM groups may be more likely to elicit warmth and understanding (Verduyn et al, 2022) and members may generally be more responsive (Valkenburg et al, 2022).…”

“…A recent experiment by Dai and Shi (2022) found that merely witnessing supportive interactions on SM conferred benefits for the observer. This may be most likely when supportive exchanges are deemed personally relevant (Verduyn et al, 2022) and when users perceive themselves as similar to the support recipient (Godard & Holtzman, 2023). This "vicarious" support may be a unique affordance of SM compared to offline contexts.…”

Multiracial identity and social support: Navigating the monoracial paradigm of race

“…Although extant research suggests that social support is an important ecological factor that contributes to positive multiracial identity development (Jackson, 2012;Truong & Museus, 2012;Museus et al, 2015;Franco, 2019;Gabriel et al, 2022;Godard & Holtzman, 2023), there are fewer concrete models that suggest how that support-seeking takes place as multiracial individuals navigate monocentric norms. Because different racialized communities face different kinds of discrimination and cope with this discrimination in unique ways (Museus et al, 2015), this paper contributes to existing models of racial coping by (1) focusing on a particular community of color, Black-White multiracial individuals, and by (2) exploring the process by which they seek support to cope with racialized experiences.…”

“…However, participants also feared that turning to monoracial Black friends and family members could be seen as complaining or speaking out of turn. Although multiracial individuals often find a strong sense of support in spaces that are specifically carved out for multiracial persons (Gabriel et al, 2022;Godard & Holtzman, 2023), these spaces are not always widely available.…”