Journal Article

Seeking validation in the digital age: The impact of validation seeking on self-image and internalized stigma among self- vs. clinically diagnosed individuals on r/ADHD

Zhu, Jianfeng, Zhang, Xinyu, Zhang, Yunhan, Oh, Yoo Jung

2025

Overview

The digital age has fueled a surge in ADHD self-diagnosis as people turn to online platforms for mental health information. However, the relationship between validation-seeking behaviors and self-perception in these online communities and users’ self-perception has received limited scholarly focus. Drawing on self-verification theory and utilizing natural language processing to analyze 452,026 posts from the r/ADHD subreddit, our study uncovers distinct patterns in validation-seeking behaviors. Results show that (a) self-diagnosed individuals with ADHD are more likely to seek social validation and media validation and to report higher levels of negative self-image and internalized stigma than clinically diagnosed individuals, (b) social validation was strongly associated with both positive and negative self-perceptions; and (c) diagnosis status significantly moderated these relationships, such that the effects of social validation on self-image and stigma were consistently weaker for the self-diagnosed group. Theoretically, this study extends self-verification theory by demonstrating that professional verification hierarchically moderates self-verification effectiveness. This implies a practical need for clinicians to acknowledge online validation seeking and for digital communities to affirm user experiences while mitigating stigma.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,PLOS,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Adolescent / Adult / Analysis / Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - diagnosis / Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - psychology / Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder / Biology and Life Sciences / Computational linguistics / Computer and Information Sciences / Diagnosis / Digital Age / Engineering and Technology / Female / Health care / Humans / Language processing / Legitimacy / Male / Medical advice systems / Medicine and Health Sciences / Mental health / Natural language interfaces / Natural language processing / Patient outcomes / Perception / Perceptions / Pharmaceutical industry / Physical Sciences / Psychological aspects / Self Concept / Self esteem / Self image / Self-perception / Social acceptance / Social Media / Social networks / Social Sciences / Social Stigma / Stigma / Stigma (Social psychology) / User experience / Verification / Virtual communities / Young Adult