An, Zheng, Jingbo Meng, and Luana Mendiola-Smith. "The role of identification in soliciting social support in online communities." Computers in Human Behavior 104 (2020): 106181.

This research investigates how identification with characters in support-seeking narratives affects social support intentions and behaviors within online communities. Through two online surveys, it explores the audience's involvement and response to narratives sharing emotional distress due to interpersonal conflicts. Study 1, with 268 participants, reveals that higher identification with the narrative's protagonist (the support seeker) enhances the willingness and actual provision of social support. Study 2, involving 131 participants, manipulates identification by presenting the narrative from either the support seeker's or the opposing character's perspective. Findings indicate that identification shifts significantly when the perspective changes, affecting blame attribution and empathy towards the characters. The study underscores the power of narrative perspective in influencing social support dynamics and offers insights into narrative persuasion in online support-seeking contexts.