Pub Date : 2025-12-22DOI: 10.1177/21522715251410335
Yoori Hwang, Se-Hoon Jeong
Extending previous research on creative AI to the context of AI advertising, the present study examined whether creativity in AI advertising could evoke perceptions of uncanniness and consequently have a negative impact on ad outcomes. Based on a two (ad creativity: low vs. high) by two (creator label: human vs. AI) between-subjects experimental design, the present study showed that ad creativity in general had a positive direct impact on attitude toward the ad (Aad), attitude toward the brand (Ab), and purchase intentions. In addition, there were significant mediation effects of perceived creativity on Aad and Ab via perceived uncanniness, which was moderated by creator label. For the AI-creator-labeled condition, perceived creativity had negative indirect effects on Aad and Ab via perceived uncanniness, such that greater perceived creativity led to greater perceived uncanniness, which in turn induced less favorable Aad and Ab. However, the mediation effect was not found for the human-creator-labeled condition. Thus, the positive effect of ad creativity was smaller for the AI-creator-labeled ad.
{"title":"Effects of Creativity in AI Advertising: The Mediating Role of Perceived Uncanniness.","authors":"Yoori Hwang, Se-Hoon Jeong","doi":"10.1177/21522715251410335","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21522715251410335","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Extending previous research on creative AI to the context of AI advertising, the present study examined whether creativity in AI advertising could evoke perceptions of uncanniness and consequently have a negative impact on ad outcomes. Based on a two (ad creativity: low vs. high) by two (creator label: human vs. AI) between-subjects experimental design, the present study showed that ad creativity in general had a positive direct impact on attitude toward the ad (A<sub>ad</sub>), attitude toward the brand (A<sub>b</sub>), and purchase intentions. In addition, there were significant mediation effects of perceived creativity on A<sub>ad</sub> and A<sub>b</sub> via perceived uncanniness, which was moderated by creator label. For the AI-creator-labeled condition, perceived creativity had negative indirect effects on A<sub>ad</sub> and A<sub>b</sub> via perceived uncanniness, such that greater perceived creativity led to greater perceived uncanniness, which in turn induced less favorable A<sub>ad</sub> and A<sub>b</sub>. However, the mediation effect was not found for the human-creator-labeled condition. Thus, the positive effect of ad creativity was smaller for the AI-creator-labeled ad.</p>","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145854872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-18DOI: 10.1177/21522715251408721
Brenda K Wiederhold
{"title":"BookTok as Cultural Infrastructure: Emotion, Influence, and the Future of Reading.","authors":"Brenda K Wiederhold","doi":"10.1177/21522715251408721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21522715251408721","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145854933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-15DOI: 10.1177/21522715251405791
SoJin Lee,Eunseo Kim,Jaeyeon Bang,Jiyeon Park,Yejoo Lee,Taeyeon Kim
Phubbing has become a prominent phenomenon in today's digital landscape, with detrimental effects on relational well-being. Beyond its negative impact on various types of relationships, scholarly interest has been paid to the influence of phubbing on impression formation. Drawing on the Stereotype Content Model, which highlights the roles of warmth and competence in social perception and evaluation, this study examined how phubbing affects these dimensions and subsequently influences social attractiveness, likability, and interaction intentions. Two experiments were conducted. Study 1 found that phubbing significantly reduced perceptions of warmth and competence, which led to lower social attractiveness, likability, and interaction intentions. Serial mediation analysis confirmed the mediating roles of warmth, competence, and social attractiveness. In Study 2, moderated mediation analyses demonstrated that contextual information significantly moderated these effects. These findings offer important theoretical and practical implications by clarifying the psychological mechanisms through which phubbing harms social evaluations and undermines relational well-being.
{"title":"Does Using Mobile Phones Make You Less Attractive? Phubbing and Perceptions of Warmth, Competence, and Social Attractiveness.","authors":"SoJin Lee,Eunseo Kim,Jaeyeon Bang,Jiyeon Park,Yejoo Lee,Taeyeon Kim","doi":"10.1177/21522715251405791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21522715251405791","url":null,"abstract":"Phubbing has become a prominent phenomenon in today's digital landscape, with detrimental effects on relational well-being. Beyond its negative impact on various types of relationships, scholarly interest has been paid to the influence of phubbing on impression formation. Drawing on the Stereotype Content Model, which highlights the roles of warmth and competence in social perception and evaluation, this study examined how phubbing affects these dimensions and subsequently influences social attractiveness, likability, and interaction intentions. Two experiments were conducted. Study 1 found that phubbing significantly reduced perceptions of warmth and competence, which led to lower social attractiveness, likability, and interaction intentions. Serial mediation analysis confirmed the mediating roles of warmth, competence, and social attractiveness. In Study 2, moderated mediation analyses demonstrated that contextual information significantly moderated these effects. These findings offer important theoretical and practical implications by clarifying the psychological mechanisms through which phubbing harms social evaluations and undermines relational well-being.","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145813551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-04DOI: 10.1177/21522715251404199
Danny Yihan Jia,Yunwen Wang
Unhealthy social media habits may foster procrastination, leading to negative psychological and behavioral outcomes. The rising prevalence of procrastinatory short-form video (SFV) use (e.g., on TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts) highlights the need to better understand how established predictors of problematic media use operate in this emerging media environment. To address this gap, this study investigated the motivational factors underlying procrastinatory SFV use and its relationship with user well-being. Using an online survey of college students (N = 549) from two U.S. universities, structural equation modeling revealed that individuals with lower self-control, stronger habitual SFV use, and greater involvement (enjoyment, escapism, and social connectedness) were more prone to procrastinatory SFV use, which in turn was associated with higher stress levels, poorer overall sleep quality, longer sleep latency, more sleep disturbances, and greater daytime dysfunction, but not with academic performance. This study contributes to the understanding of motivational factors underlying procrastinatory SFV use and its associations with user well-being. Theoretical contributions to the study of irrational media use, practical recommendations for mitigating procrastinatory SFV engagement, and directions for longitudinal and context-sensitive future research are discussed.
{"title":"Endless Scrolling: Predictors of Procrastinatory Short-Form Video Use and Its Effects on Stress and Sleep.","authors":"Danny Yihan Jia,Yunwen Wang","doi":"10.1177/21522715251404199","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21522715251404199","url":null,"abstract":"Unhealthy social media habits may foster procrastination, leading to negative psychological and behavioral outcomes. The rising prevalence of procrastinatory short-form video (SFV) use (e.g., on TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts) highlights the need to better understand how established predictors of problematic media use operate in this emerging media environment. To address this gap, this study investigated the motivational factors underlying procrastinatory SFV use and its relationship with user well-being. Using an online survey of college students (N = 549) from two U.S. universities, structural equation modeling revealed that individuals with lower self-control, stronger habitual SFV use, and greater involvement (enjoyment, escapism, and social connectedness) were more prone to procrastinatory SFV use, which in turn was associated with higher stress levels, poorer overall sleep quality, longer sleep latency, more sleep disturbances, and greater daytime dysfunction, but not with academic performance. This study contributes to the understanding of motivational factors underlying procrastinatory SFV use and its associations with user well-being. Theoretical contributions to the study of irrational media use, practical recommendations for mitigating procrastinatory SFV engagement, and directions for longitudinal and context-sensitive future research are discussed.","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145696840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-04DOI: 10.1177/21522715251403844
Xiyuan Yang, Kexin Ba, Jiushu Xie, Yan Wang, Li Kong, Yikang Liu
Social media plays a powerful role in accelerating the spread of misinformation, especially in the mental health domain, where misleading content may even cause disasters. Given the extensive coverage and complexity of social media data, manually moderating online misinformation is infeasible. Therefore, the present study proposes an integrated framework that combines qualitative analysis and deep learning to automatically detect and evaluate mental health misinformation. Guided by expert interviews and grounded theory, in the present study, a 21-level, fine-grained credibility assessment framework covering seven dimensions was developed. Using the framework, in this study, 814 Chinese social media posts were manually annotated, and a high-quality dataset was constructed. On this dataset, we trained and evaluated three deep learning models, that is, Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), and Robustly Optimized BERT Approach (RoBERTa), to automatically assess the credibility of mental health content. The results show that BERT, GRU, and RoBERTa models are effective at leveraging a range of clear sentiment-related cues and surface-level patterns to evaluate mental health misinformation on social media, particularly on dimensions such as Inflammatory Expression and One-sidedness of Expression. However, all three models face challenges in evaluating evidence quality and detecting context-dependent misinformation. When dealing with these challenges, BERT and GRU outperform RoBERTa, particularly in dimensions such as Logical Rigor. This study provides a robust, scalable, and expert-informed approach to improve the credibility of mental health information online.
{"title":"Characterizing and Evaluating Mental Health Misinformation on Social Media: A Qualitative and Deep Learning-Based Study.","authors":"Xiyuan Yang, Kexin Ba, Jiushu Xie, Yan Wang, Li Kong, Yikang Liu","doi":"10.1177/21522715251403844","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21522715251403844","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Social media plays a powerful role in accelerating the spread of misinformation, especially in the mental health domain, where misleading content may even cause disasters. Given the extensive coverage and complexity of social media data, manually moderating online misinformation is infeasible. Therefore, the present study proposes an integrated framework that combines qualitative analysis and deep learning to automatically detect and evaluate mental health misinformation. Guided by expert interviews and grounded theory, in the present study, a 21-level, fine-grained credibility assessment framework covering seven dimensions was developed. Using the framework, in this study, 814 Chinese social media posts were manually annotated, and a high-quality dataset was constructed. On this dataset, we trained and evaluated three deep learning models, that is, Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), and Robustly Optimized BERT Approach (RoBERTa), to automatically assess the credibility of mental health content. The results show that BERT, GRU, and RoBERTa models are effective at leveraging a range of clear sentiment-related cues and surface-level patterns to evaluate mental health misinformation on social media, particularly on dimensions such as Inflammatory Expression and One-sidedness of Expression. However, all three models face challenges in evaluating evidence quality and detecting context-dependent misinformation. When dealing with these challenges, BERT and GRU outperform RoBERTa, particularly in dimensions such as Logical Rigor. This study provides a robust, scalable, and expert-informed approach to improve the credibility of mental health information online.</p>","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145699592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-04DOI: 10.1177/21522715251400733
Giuseppe Riva, Brenda K Wiederhold, Fabrizia Mantovani
The cognitive processes of the hypnotized mind and the computational operations of large language models (LLMs) share deep functional parallels. Both systems generate sophisticated, contextually appropriate behavior through automatic pattern-completion mechanisms operating with limited or unreliable executive oversight. This review examines this convergence across three principles: automaticity, in which responses emerge from associative rather than deliberative processes; suppressed monitoring, leading to errors such as confabulation in hypnosis and hallucination in LLMs; and heightened contextual dependency, where immediate cues-a therapist's suggestion or a user's prompt-override stable knowledge. These mechanisms reveal an observer-relative meaning gap: both systems produce coherent but ungrounded outputs that require an external interpreter to supply meaning. Hypnosis and LLMs also exemplify functional agency-the capacity for complex, goal-directed, context-sensitive behavior-without subjective agency, the conscious awareness of intention and ownership that defines human action. This distinction clarifies how purposive behavior can emerge without self-reflective consciousness, governed instead by structural and contextual dynamics. Finally, both domains illuminate the phenomenon of scheming: automatic, goal-directed pattern generation that unfolds without reflective awareness. Hypnosis provides an experimental model for understanding how intention can become dissociated from conscious deliberation, offering insights into the hidden motivational dynamics of artificial systems. Recognizing these parallels suggests that the future of reliable artificial intelligence lies in hybrid architectures that integrate generative fluency with mechanisms of executive monitoring, an approach inspired by the complex, self-regulating architecture of the human mind.
{"title":"Automatic Minds: Cognitive Parallels Between Hypnotic States and Large Language Model Processing.","authors":"Giuseppe Riva, Brenda K Wiederhold, Fabrizia Mantovani","doi":"10.1177/21522715251400733","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21522715251400733","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The cognitive processes of the hypnotized mind and the computational operations of large language models (LLMs) share deep functional parallels. Both systems generate sophisticated, contextually appropriate behavior through automatic pattern-completion mechanisms operating with limited or unreliable executive oversight. This review examines this convergence across three principles: automaticity, in which responses emerge from associative rather than deliberative processes; suppressed monitoring, leading to errors such as confabulation in hypnosis and hallucination in LLMs; and heightened contextual dependency, where immediate cues-a therapist's suggestion or a user's prompt-override stable knowledge. These mechanisms reveal an observer-relative meaning gap: both systems produce coherent but ungrounded outputs that require an external interpreter to supply meaning. Hypnosis and LLMs also exemplify functional agency-the capacity for complex, goal-directed, context-sensitive behavior-without subjective agency, the conscious awareness of intention and ownership that defines human action. This distinction clarifies how purposive behavior can emerge without self-reflective consciousness, governed instead by structural and contextual dynamics. Finally, both domains illuminate the phenomenon of scheming: automatic, goal-directed pattern generation that unfolds without reflective awareness. Hypnosis provides an experimental model for understanding how intention can become dissociated from conscious deliberation, offering insights into the hidden motivational dynamics of artificial systems. Recognizing these parallels suggests that the future of reliable artificial intelligence lies in hybrid architectures that integrate generative fluency with mechanisms of executive monitoring, an approach inspired by the complex, self-regulating architecture of the human mind.</p>","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145699513","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01DOI: 10.1177/21522715251386347
Simone Amendola,Miguel Barreda-Ángeles
Previous research on digital media and well-being showed that the impact of media technologies on users largely depends on specific usage characteristics, context, and individual user factors. This research report explores the existence of distinct user profiles in virtual reality (VR), using an existing dataset and applying latent class analysis. The results point to the existence of three classes: two of them primarily include VR game users, who differ in the intensity of their psychological engagement (sense of presence) during gameplay, and a third class that includes users of social VR platforms, who report a relatively very high level of engagement with these platforms. The three groups differ in symptoms of addiction to the technology. These results provide valuable proof of concept for the usefulness of identifying usage profiles as a way to reveal how the relationship between VR and well-being might vary across different usage situations.
{"title":"An Exploration of Virtual Reality User Profiles and Their Relationship with Symptoms of Addiction.","authors":"Simone Amendola,Miguel Barreda-Ángeles","doi":"10.1177/21522715251386347","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21522715251386347","url":null,"abstract":"Previous research on digital media and well-being showed that the impact of media technologies on users largely depends on specific usage characteristics, context, and individual user factors. This research report explores the existence of distinct user profiles in virtual reality (VR), using an existing dataset and applying latent class analysis. The results point to the existence of three classes: two of them primarily include VR game users, who differ in the intensity of their psychological engagement (sense of presence) during gameplay, and a third class that includes users of social VR platforms, who report a relatively very high level of engagement with these platforms. The three groups differ in symptoms of addiction to the technology. These results provide valuable proof of concept for the usefulness of identifying usage profiles as a way to reveal how the relationship between VR and well-being might vary across different usage situations.","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":"3 1","pages":"810-815"},"PeriodicalIF":6.6,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145664005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-11-06DOI: 10.1177/21522715251386363
Luana Amadini Genovese, Silvia Francesca Maria Pizzoli, Giuseppe Riva
{"title":"From Setback to Comeback: A Virtual Reality-Based Self-Compassion Intervention for Injured Athletes.","authors":"Luana Amadini Genovese, Silvia Francesca Maria Pizzoli, Giuseppe Riva","doi":"10.1177/21522715251386363","DOIUrl":"10.1177/21522715251386363","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":" ","pages":"829-831"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145470774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-11-07DOI: 10.1177/21522715251394591
HongKeun Kim, So-Hyeon Shim, Sun Joo Grace Ahn, Sujin Lee
Although geographically dispersed organizations increasingly rely on virtual platforms to collaborate, virtual communication can undermine key team processes and outcomes. Prior research has largely focused on individual-level explanations, such as cognitive strain or "Zoom fatigue," for these challenges. We extend this literature by proposing that virtual communication also reinforces hierarchical structures by amplifying disparities in member influence during decision-making. In a controlled experiment comparing video conferencing and face-to-face teams, we find that disparities in member influence are significantly greater in virtual teams, which in turn reduces task performance. These findings highlight a critical, group-level mechanism through which virtual communication shapes communication patterns and outcomes, beyond previously identified individual-level factors. By identifying disparity in member influence as a key mediator, this study advances theory on virtual communication, group hierarchy, and decision-making and offers practical implications for reducing hierarchical distortions and fostering more equal-level conversations that enhance team effectiveness.
{"title":"Communicating via Video Conferencing: The Mediating Effect of Member Influence Disparity on Task Performance.","authors":"HongKeun Kim, So-Hyeon Shim, Sun Joo Grace Ahn, Sujin Lee","doi":"10.1177/21522715251394591","DOIUrl":"10.1177/21522715251394591","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although geographically dispersed organizations increasingly rely on virtual platforms to collaborate, virtual communication can undermine key team processes and outcomes. Prior research has largely focused on individual-level explanations, such as cognitive strain or \"Zoom fatigue,\" for these challenges. We extend this literature by proposing that virtual communication also reinforces hierarchical structures by amplifying disparities in member influence during decision-making. In a controlled experiment comparing video conferencing and face-to-face teams, we find that disparities in member influence are significantly greater in virtual teams, which in turn reduces task performance. These findings highlight a critical, group-level mechanism through which virtual communication shapes communication patterns and outcomes, beyond previously identified individual-level factors. By identifying disparity in member influence as a key mediator, this study advances theory on virtual communication, group hierarchy, and decision-making and offers practical implications for reducing hierarchical distortions and fostering more equal-level conversations that enhance team effectiveness.</p>","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":" ","pages":"823-828"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145488150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-12-01Epub Date: 2025-11-18DOI: 10.1177/21522715251397784
Ryan C Meldrum, Raymond D Partin, Peter S Lehmann, Salpi S Kevorkian
Despite the emergence of the dark web more than 20 years ago, little scholarly attention has focused on identifying potential mental health differences between dark web users and surface web users. Yet, given the pseudo-anonymous nature of the dark web and the purported privacy it provides, individuals with mental health vulnerabilities may be inclined to use the dark web. In the present study, we investigate this matter by drawing on survey data collected in 2024 from a national sample of 2,000 U.S. adults. The results of both bivariate and multivariate analyses indicate that dark web users exhibit greater depressive symptoms and have more paranoid thoughts than surface web users. Likewise, dark web users are more likely than surface web users to report suicidal thoughts, nonsuicidal self-injury, and engagement in digital self-harm. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for practice as well as avenues for future research.
{"title":"Crying Out in the Dark? Exploring the Mental Health Vulnerabilities of Dark Web Users.","authors":"Ryan C Meldrum, Raymond D Partin, Peter S Lehmann, Salpi S Kevorkian","doi":"10.1177/21522715251397784","DOIUrl":"10.1177/21522715251397784","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite the emergence of the dark web more than 20 years ago, little scholarly attention has focused on identifying potential mental health differences between dark web users and surface web users. Yet, given the pseudo-anonymous nature of the dark web and the purported privacy it provides, individuals with mental health vulnerabilities may be inclined to use the dark web. In the present study, we investigate this matter by drawing on survey data collected in 2024 from a national sample of 2,000 U.S. adults. The results of both bivariate and multivariate analyses indicate that dark web users exhibit greater depressive symptoms and have more paranoid thoughts than surface web users. Likewise, dark web users are more likely than surface web users to report suicidal thoughts, nonsuicidal self-injury, and engagement in digital self-harm. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for practice as well as avenues for future research.</p>","PeriodicalId":10872,"journal":{"name":"Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking","volume":" ","pages":"794-800"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145563286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}