Fong Seraphina, Carollo Alessandro, Vivanti Giacomo, Messinger Daniel S, Dimitriou Dagmara, Esposito Gianluca
Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Autism Res. 2025 Jun 5. doi: 10.1002/aur.70066.
Social media platforms play a crucial role in shaping public perceptions of neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders, by providing spaces for community interaction and content sharing. These platforms hold the potential to foster connections and support among autistic individuals while offering valuable insights into their personal experiences and diverse perspectives. However, knowledge is limited on autism-related content shared within Reddit, one of the most prominent social media outlets. In this study, we aimed to examine discussions and narratives shared on Reddit about autism, with the dual objectives of identifying the main topics of discussion and exploring the lived experiences of autistic individuals. To achieve this, we utilized state-of-the-art natural language processing techniques to perform a topic modeling analysis on 740,042 autism-related posts collected from Reddit. Converging themes emerged when comparing the largest and most general subreddit in the dataset (r/autism) with 15 additional autism-related subreddits. The most prominent topics of discussion included challenges in social relationships, behaviors such as stimming, and sensory sensitivities. Additional themes highlighted specific emotional experiences and practical concerns, such as managing a diagnosis, navigating intervention options, and coping with daily life. These findings were organized and discussed in relation to social communication differences and restricted, repetitive behaviors, which are frequently highlighted in discussions about autism. At the same time, we acknowledge the perspective of autistic communities, which view these traits as differences rather than deficits, with many challenges arising from societal expectations and the pressure to mask neurodivergent traits. Together, the results provide a comprehensive overview of the most common topics discussed within autism-related social media content and offer valuable insights into the lived experiences and motivations for social media engagement among autistic individuals.
社交媒体平台通过提供社区互动和内容分享的空间，在塑造公众对神经发育障碍（如自闭症谱系障碍）的认知方面发挥着关键作用。这些平台有潜力促进自闭症患者之间的联系与支持，同时提供有关他们个人经历和多样观点的宝贵见解。然而，对于Reddit（最著名的社交媒体平台之一）上分享的与自闭症相关的内容，我们了解的还很有限。在本研究中，我们旨在审视Reddit上关于自闭症的讨论和叙述，以确定主要讨论话题并探索自闭症患者的生活经历为双重目标。为实现这一目标，我们运用最先进的自然语言处理技术，对从Reddit收集的740,042篇与自闭症相关的帖子进行主题建模分析。将数据集中最大且最通用的子版块（r/自闭症）与另外15个与自闭症相关的子版块进行比较时，出现了一些趋同的主题。最突出的讨论话题包括社交关系中的挑战、自我刺激行为以及感官敏感。其他主题则突出了特定的情感体验和实际问题，比如应对诊断、选择干预方案以及处理日常生活。这些发现围绕社交沟通差异和局限、重复行为进行了整理和讨论，这些在关于自闭症的讨论中经常被提及。与此同时，我们认可自闭症群体的观点，他们将这些特征视为差异而非缺陷，社会期望和掩盖神经差异特征的压力引发了诸多挑战。这些结果共同提供了与自闭症相关的社交媒体内容中最常见讨论话题的全面概述，并为自闭症患者的生活经历以及他们参与社交媒体的动机提供了宝贵见解。
