Digital Compassion: Unveiling Factors Behind Chinese Netizens' Responses to Support-Seeking About Depression

This survey study (N = 446) examined the influence of various culturally sensitive factors - personal stigma, empathy, communication style, and self-construal - on the quality of supportive messages Chinese individuals provide (measured by interaction involvement, reciprocal self-disclosure, person-centeredness, and politeness) in response to online posts seeking help for depression. Also, we examined the role of self-construal and communication style as moderators in moderating the effect of personal stigma and empathy on the quality of support messages. Results showed that higher levels of personal stigma regarding depression lead to longer and more polite responses to individuals seeking support for depression but also emotional and psychological distancing. Further, independent self-construal negatively predicts the quality of support messages. Both communication style and interdependent self-construal moderate key relationships: communication style shapes how stigma relates to cognitive processing and politeness, as well as how empathy relates to politeness; interdependent self-construal influences the links between stigma and politeness, stigma and person-centeredness, and empathy and politeness. Implications of the findings are discussed.