This experimental study examined how depth of self-disclosure (baseline, peripheral, core) in support-seeking posts influenced forum viewers’ interaction involvement and reciprocal self-disclosure in their responses. A series of competing hypotheses derived from several theoretical frameworks were tested. Results obtained from computerized text analyses showed that self-concept self-disclosure was associated with higher levels of interaction involvement and reciprocal self-disclosure in viewers’ response messages. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

The current study examined the effect of exposure to online support-seeking posts containing different levels of depth self-disclosure (baseline, peripheral, core) affecting the quality (person-centeredness and politeness) of participants' support-provision messages. Participants of the study were assigned to the role of a support-provider. Compared to participants who read support-seeking posts with baseline and core self-disclosure, participants who read support-seeking posts with peripheral self-disclosure rated the support-seekers as less anonymous. Compared to participants who read support-seeking posts in the baseline condition, participants who read the support-seeking posts with peripheral self-disclosure wrote support-provision messages with higher level of person-centeredness and politeness. Participants' perceived anonymity of the support-seekers mediated the effect of the depth of self-disclosure on the politeness of the response messages.