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When the Social Becomes Non-Human: Young People's Perception of Social Support in Chatbots
Open accessAbstract
Although social support is important for health and well-being, many young people are hesitant to reach out for support. The emerging uptake of chatbots for social and emotional purposes entails opportunities and concerns regarding non-human agents as sources of social support. To explore this, we invited 16 participants (16–21 years) to use and reflect on chatbots as sources of social support. Our participants first interacted with a chatbot for mental health (Woebot) for two weeks. Next, they participated in individual in-depth interviews. As part of the interview session, they were presented with a chatbot prototype providing information to young people. Two months later, the participants reported on their continued use of Woebot. Our findings provide in-depth knowledge about how young people may experience various types of social support—appraisal, informational, emotional, and instrumental support—from chatbots. We summarize implications for theory, practice, and future research.
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“Justification for focusing on the young population is rooted in prior research demonstrating distinctive preferences, attitudes, and utilization patterns compared to adults17,18.”
From Use of automated conversational agents in improving young population mental health: a scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [18]
In the citing paper
“They use these systems for emotional, informational, and appraisal support and treat them as non-judgmental spaces to organize feelings and reflect on concerns [17].”
From Understanding Teen Overreliance on AI Companion Chatbots Through Self-Reported Reddit Narratives (2026) · cites this paper as [17]
In the citing paper
“Young people describe chatbots as emotionally supportive, non-judgmental, and safe for disclosure, which encourages deeper feelings of connection [18].”
From Understanding Teen Overreliance on AI Companion Chatbots Through Self-Reported Reddit Narratives (2026) · cites this paper as [18]
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BackgroundChatbots to Support Young Adults’ Mental Health: An Exploratory Study of Acceptability
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“As the use of LLM-based systems raises privacy concerns, especially in our study context [15, 24, 29], we emphasized transparent disclosure of study information and data processing.”
InfluentialCan You Read Between the Lines?: A Comparison of Human and ChatGPT As Support Providers
Hwang, L. J., McKenzie, R., Feng, B., & Pan, W. (2025) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2025.2584724 · Cited by 11
“First, existing research on human-AI supportive communication has focused on identifying what types of social support chatbots are able to employ and how humans perceive these interactions (e.g., Bae Brandtzæg et al., 2021; Ho et al., 2018).”
Exploring Users’ Preferences for Chatbot’s Guidance Type and Timing
Wu, M.-H., Yeh, S.-F., Chang, X.-J., & Chang, Y.-J. (2021) · ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) · doi:10.1145/3462204.3481756 · Cited by 9
“While the majority of the chatbots have a commercial focus, past findings have also shown that chatbots can provide opportunities to create positive social impact in many domains [9, 31] such as health care [28], education, [7], supporting systems [3], etc.”
BackgroundPeltola, J., Kaipainen, K., Keinonen, K., Kiuru, N. H., & Turunen, M. (2023) · ACM Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI) · doi:10.1145/3571884.3597142 · Cited by 12
Examining the Content and Form of Supportive Conversations with Chatbots
Meng, J., Rains, S. A., Qin, J., & Rheu, M. (2025) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2025.2467450 · Cited by 8
“In helping support seekers feel better (Bae Brandtzæg et al., 2021; Meng & Dai, 2021; Rains et al., 2020a), it seems likely that chatbots influence the ways in which support seekers talk about their problems.”
Kostka, G., & Zhou, H. (2026) · Technology in Society · doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103379 · Cited by 16
Daher, K., Saad, D., Mugellini, E., Lalanne, D., & Khaled, O. A. (2022) · Sensors · doi:10.3390/s22083046 · Cited by 11
“Thirdmost was text [47,64,66,70,73,81,88,94,97] and voice [47,48,54,59–61,68,94,97] with 9 out of 32 articles.”
BackgroundInfluentialLi, Y., Ding, X. X., Chen, Y., Li, Y., & Ma, N. (2025) · Designing Interactive Systems Conference · doi:10.1145/3715336.3735795 · Cited by 9
Núñez-Pacheco, C., Sanches, P., & Olivares-Retamal, J. (2025) · Designing Interactive Systems Conference · doi:10.1145/3715336.3735751 · Cited by 11
“Researchers often motivate the use of these tools as safe and non-judgmental [7, 65], and therefore conducive to an anonymous and safe self-disclosure environment, when compared to a dialogue with a human counterpart.”
The Influence of Unequal Chatbot Treatment on Users in Group Chat
Goetz, M., Wolter, K., & Prilla, M. (2022) · Mensch und Computer (MuC) · doi:10.1145/3543758.3543774 · Cited by 7
“In this dyadic relationship, the chatbot can influence human behavior by, for example, the chatbot having a positive influence on mental well-being [3].”
BackgroundButterby, K., & Lombard, N. (2024) · Journal of Gender-Based Violence · doi:10.1332/23986808y2024d000000038 · Cited by 7
Oguine, O. C., Park, J. K., Akter, M., Olesk, J., Alluhidan, A., Wisniewski, P., & Badillo-Urquiola, K. (2025) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3710995 · Cited by 8
“More recently, and with the advances in technology and artificial intelligence (AI), researchers have also begun exploring how youth perceive new types of online social support, like those available from AI chatbots [25, 80, 91].”
Using LLMs for self-care: User and counsellor perspectives
Wester, J., de Jong, S., Pohl, H., & van Berkel, N. (2025) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103589 · Cited by 6
Give and Take: Perceptions of a Conversational Coach Agent in Fitness Trackers MHCI014
Loerakker, M. B., Stefanidi, E., Niess, J., Mildner, T., & Woźniak, P. W. (2025) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3743718 · Cited by 6
“These interfaces can help users navigate complex tasks by providing cognitive scaffolding [42, 109, 110, 139], and have been proven effective in guiding users through reflective practices to promote wellbeing and support mental health [18, 20, 70, 78, 79, 87, 105].”
BetterMood: A human-like AI counseling service for adolescents and young adults
Kim, D. H., Baek, S., Lee, J., Lee, T., Park, S., You, B., Hur, J., Kim, M., & Lee, C.-G. (2025) · Digital Health · doi:10.1177/20552076251392294 · Cited by 6
“24,25 We de fi ne human-like dialogue as (i) multimodal social cues that convey empathy and social presence, and (ii) low-latency turn-taking that sustains conversational fl ow and rapport.”
Young people's use and experience of the Internet during the COVID-19 lockdown:
Brandtzæg, P. B., & Lüders, M. H. (2021) · First Monday · doi:10.5210/fm.v26i12.11755 · Cited by 10
A Field Test of Popular Chatbots’ Responses To Questions Concerning Negative Body Image
An, R., Byron, C. W., Chen, C., & Xiang, X. (2023) · Health Behavior Research · doi:10.4148/2572-1836.1164 · Cited by 6
“Supplementing or substituting peer interaction, many adolescents and young adults may demand and receive social cues, advice, and emotional comfort or support from chatbots, that can affect their beliefs, values, and social behaviors profundly (Brandtzaeg et al., 2021; D’Alfonso et al., 2017).”
Ploderer, B., Capel, T., Davaakhuu, N.-E., Tung, N. H., Maichal, D. M., Kuzhiparambil, A. K., Hung, Q., & Reitberger, W. (2025) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/3706599.3720221 · Cited by 6
Jain, G., Patole, E., & Pareek, S. (2026) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106467 · Cited by 6
A Systematic Literature Review of Generative AI Risks and Harms for Youth
Chang, T., & Razi, A. (2026) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/3772363.3798673 · Cited by 7
A Systematic Mapping Study about Technologies for Hedonic Aspects Evaluation in Text-based Chatbots
Mariano, P. A. D. L., Souza, A., Guerino, G. C., Chaves, A. P., & Valentim, N. (2024) · Journal on Interactive Systems · doi:10.5753/jis.2024.4350 · Cited by 5
Yousif, N., Youssef, E., & Gad, S. (2024) · European Journal of Education · doi:10.1111/ejed.12889 · Cited by 10
Wahbeh, A., Al-Ramahi, M. A., El-Gayar, O., Elnoshokaty, A., & Nasralah, T. (2023) · Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) · doi:10.24251/hicss.2023.392 · Cited by 4
“…agents should be interactive and resemble real humans as closely as possible so that conversations with the users provide guidance and useful information (Bae Brandtzæg et al., 2021) and present mental health related content in an interactive and conversational style (Morris et al., 2018).”
InfluentialHelpBot: A Web-Based Chatbot to Handle Depression Among Adolescents
Jusoh, S., Alfawareh, H. M., Kadir, R. A., & Hosseinzadeh, H. (2024) · International Conference on Computing and Artificial Intelligence (ICCAI) · doi:10.1145/3669754.3669777 · Cited by 4
Dysthe, K. K., Røssberg, J. I., Brandtzæg, P. B., Skjuve, M. B., Haavet, O. R., Følstad, A., & Klovning, A. (2023) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/37289 · Cited by 4
Self-citationEmerging AI Individualism: how young people integrate social AI into everyday lifePreprint
Brandtzæg, P. B., Skjuve, M. B., & Følstad, A. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4836120 · Cited by 5
Self-citationWu, C., Kumar, I. K., & Picard, R. W. (2025) · CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/3706599.3719869 · Cited by 5
“This aligns with prior research showing that more general mental health chatbots (which do not leverage art therapy principles) can be useful for self-reflection [10, 33].”
InfluentialKhozaei, F., Carbon, C., Islam, Q. U., & Ravari, Z. K. (2025) · The Open Psychology Journal · doi:10.2174/0118743501364500250515043823 · Cited by 5
Bowman, R., Thieme, A., Cowan, B. R., & Doherty, G. J. (2025) · International Journal of Human-Computer Studies · doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103618 · Cited by 3
My AI is not My (Virtual) Friend
Krämer, N. C., Kühn, T., & Horstmann, A. C. (2025) · ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA) · doi:10.1145/3717511.3747077 · Cited by 5
Schmidmaier, M., Rupp, J., & Mayer, S. (2025) · INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MULTIMODAL INTERACTION · doi:10.1145/3716553.3750759 · Cited by 6
Metadata
- Authors
- Bae Brandtzæg, P. B., Skjuve, M., Kristoffer Dysthe, K. K., & Følstad, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Oslo, Norway
- SINTEF Digital (NO)
- SINTEF (NO)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2021-05-06
- Pages
- 1-13
- OpenAlex
- W3162547504
- Cited by
- 153
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 35.43
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Norwegian Research Council (262848)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › AI in Service Interactions
- Keywords
- chatbots, social support, youth, Woebot, mental health, non-human actors, appraisal support, information support, emotional support, instrumental support, help-seeking, chatbot prototype, well-being
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