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Digital Hostility Toward LGBTQIA+ Research Recruitment on Social Media Using Topic Modeling and Sentiment Analysis of
Violeta J Rodriguez1, Brett Peterson2, Ashley Benhayoun2
1Clinical Community Division, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, United States.
Journal of Medical Internet Research
|September 8, 2025
Summary
Social media comments on LGBTQIA+ research recruitment are hostile, frequently dehumanizing researchers and pathologizing identities. This virtual hostility impacts researchers and participants, necessitating institutional support and policy advocacy.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Digital Communication
- Sociology of Science
Background:
- Virtual environments, especially social media, expose LGBTQIA+ researchers and participants to hostility and stigmatization.
- Existing research on virtual hostility lacks empirical data on public responses to LGBTQIA+-focused research recruitment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze themes and sentiment in social media comments on LGBTQIA+ research recruitment ads.
- To understand virtual stigma communication and its impact on researchers and participants.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 994 Facebook comments on LGBTQIA+ recruitment ads (Jan-Apr 2024).
- Latent Dirichlet allocation for theme identification; sentiment analysis using Bing Liu and NRC lexicons.
- Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count for psychological/moral language; ANOVA for audience target group differences.
Main Results:
- Key themes: Transitions/Health/Gender Dysphoria, Polarized Debate, Religious/Ideological Debates.
- All themes showed negative sentiment; comments targeting researchers exhibited high negative tone, swearing, and anger.
- Comments targeting LGBTQIA+ individuals frequently referenced mental illness, morality, and child threats.
Conclusions:
- A hostile virtual environment exists for LGBTQIA+ research, characterized by dehumanization and pathologization.
- Findings support stigma communication models, highlighting needs for institutional support, moderation, and policy.
- Future research should examine impacts on well-being/recruitment and evaluate interventions for respectful engagement.
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