Dirty Laundry: The Nature and Substance of Seeking Relationship Help from Strangers Online

First published October 23, 2021 in Research Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211046635

Commentary

In recent years, seeking relationship help through anonymous online platforms has become more and more common.

In this study, we conducted a large-scale analysis of actual relationship help-seeking to create a descriptive overview of the nature and substance of online relationship help-seeking. Analyzes the demographic characteristics and language of relationship help-seekers on Reddit (N = 184,631), establishing the first ever big data analysis of relationship help-seeking and relationship problems It highlights the real-world relational struggles found in the general population and goes beyond past work that has usually been limited to counseling/intervention settings.

Estimates of relationship problems from the sample were found to be close to those found in the general population, providing more general insight into the distribution and prevalence of relationship problems compared to past research, and several meaningful associations were found between relationship help-seeking behavior, gender, and attachment.

We found that a number of gender differences emerge in help-seeking and romantic attachment. The findings suggest that, in contrast to traditional contexts, men are more likely to seek help in online relationships and are more expressive of their emotions.