Engaging With the Text: How Can Posting on TEENLINE Help Reduce Self-Reported Feelings of Depression in Teenagers?

• In Event: Stress and Coping: Mental Health and Adjustment

Abstract

How is an online message board successful in reducing users’ expressed negative feelings and increasing their expressed positive feelings? Since previous research suggests that both peer counseling and anonymity have dual-natured effects, we propose that a re-storying process, captured as emotional experiences or ‘consequences’ of posting or responding to others’ posts on an online message board, may explain how an online message board reduces feelings of depression. After selecting and coding relevant posts for the number of times an adolescent expressed positive or negative feelings resulting from reading or writing on TEENLINE, an online peer-to-peer message board, we found more expressions of positive feelings than negative feelings. These results are explored further, with implications for future online mental health interventions.

Authors

• Ravale Mohydin, GreatSchools, Inc

• Gretchen A. Brion-Meisels, Harvard University