Online social networks of individuals with adverse childhood experiences

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which include abuse and neglect and various household challenges like exposure to intimate partner violence and substance use in the home can have negative impacts on lifelong health of affected individuals. Among various strategies for mitigating the adverse effects of ACEs is to enhance connectedness and social support for those who have experienced ACEs. However, how social networks of those who experienced ACEs differ from those who did not is poorly understood. In the present study, we use Reddit and Twitter data to investigate and compare social networks among individuals with and without ACEs exposure. We first use a neural network classifier to identify the presence or absence of public ACEs disclosures in social media posts. We then analyze egocentric social networks comparing individuals with self-reported ACEs to those with no reported history. We found that, although individuals reporting ACEs had fewer total followers in online social networks, they had higher reciprocity in following behavior (i.e., mutual following with other users), a higher tendency to follow and be followed by other individuals with ACEs, and a higher tendency to follow back individuals with ACEs rather than individuals without ACEs. These results imply that individuals with ACEs may try to actively connect to others having similar prior traumatic experiences as a positive connection and coping strategy. Supportive interpersonal connections online for individuals with ACEs appear to be a prevalent behavior and may be a way to enhance social connectedness and resilience in those who have experienced ACEs. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.