線上社會支持類型探討：以PTT精神疾病版及整型美容版為例

Typology of Online Social Support: A Study of Bulletin Board System in Taiwan

本研究以PTT精神疾病版與整型美容版為觀察對象，分析兩版長達近四年（2003－2006）的貼文內容，藉以了解學生族群的線上社會支持行為。研究結果顯示兩版最常出現的討論主題均以解惑釋疑為主，而社會支持類型的分佈，則均以資訊類型支持最多；兩版的參與者均以女性佔大多數，但女性傾向提供兼具資訊與網絡的社會支持，男性則提供單一資訊類型社會支持；在非語言符號的使用上，兩版上超過八成的貼文都未使用。有使用非語言符號的貼文中，提供資訊、網絡、或資訊網絡混和的社會支持類型最多，同時性別並未影響非語言符號的使用。

The study aims to examine the correlation between different types of social support, discussion topics, usages of nonverbal cues and the gender of Bulletin Board System (BBS) users. The data was collected from PTT, the largest BBS in the Chinese-speaking community. The Psychiatry and the Beauty discussion groups were specifically chosen for this study by using the posts written between year 2003 to 2006. The results indicated that for both discussion groups, the topics were mostly information-related. Thus, the types of social support were primarily information-focused. More female members participated in both discussion groups than the males. Female members tended to provide a combination of informational and network types of support only. Not much nonverbal cues were used in both discussion groups. In addition participants in both discussion groups used more nonverbal cues when they provided informational, network, or a combination of informational and network types of social support. Furthermore, there is no correlation between gender and the use of nonverbal cues.