The Use of YouTube by Persons with Asperger’s Syndrome for Online Social Networking
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Authors
Hand, Mary Ann Costello
Issue Date
2011-06-27
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Persons with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) are typically described as having broad range symptoms, but most frequently, they fail to establish and maintain appropriate social interactions (APA, 2010). The syndrome’s characteristics promote a sense of self that becomes increasingly apparent in adolescence and young adulthood, and serves to isolate the individual in relationships (Attwood, 2007; Heflin & Aliamo, 2007). Because one of the most pervasive characteristics of AS is the inability to initiate and sustain social relationships, it appears a paradox that YouTube posters with Asperger’s have uploaded more than 5,000 online narrative self-disclosures in video form and are willing to connect in very personal ways with strangers through this very public medium. Yet, research substantiates that online venues are virtual spaces wherein persons with AS are able to form social connections and community in an unthreatening, more comfortable way (Davidson, 2008; 2009). The purpose of this study was to investigate the content of YouTube video self-presentations by young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome to discern how the posters make use of the disclosive narrative videos as a means of establishing and maintaining social interactions with viewers. A preliminary study identified eight emergent self-presentational features that were used in subsequent regression analysis (Hand, 2009). The data suggested that a combination of those features, specifically describing one’s own Asperger’s and sharing personal information, appeared to be predictive of a greater number of viewer responses, yet none of the elemental features were predictive of a maintained dialogue between the poster and the viewer.