Romantic Relationship Advice From Anonymous Online Helpers: The Peer Support Adolescents Exchange

This empirical study investigates adolescents’ responses to peers’ personal accounts of romantic relationship difficulties posted to an online forum. We analyze 440 anonymous responses to personal accounts of four romantic relationship issues: controlling partners, break-ups, trust issues, and partner cruelty. Responses were categorized, in order of prevalence, as judgment, recommendation, words of kindness, personal experience, and probing question. Adolescents who provide recommendations most often advise that peers terminate their relationships, rather than seek help or communicate directly. However, adolescents respond differently to cruelty, as compared with the other three relationship issues. Although still likely to recommend ending the relationship in cases of cruelty, they are significantly more likely to suggest seeking help, and less likely to suggest direct communication. Adolescents also respond differently depending on the poster’s gender: They offer more Recommendations overall, and specifically more Recommendations to Seek Help and Break-up/Move on, to female than to male posters.