Across two experimental studies, identity leadership by social media influencers was associated with greater identification as ADHDers, help-seeking attitudes, and self-care intentions, suggesting that influencers can use identity leadership to meaningfully influence both people's understanding and response to mental health content.
Key Findings
Results
Identity leadership in influencer content was associated with greater identification as ADHDers across both studies.
Study 1 used authentic TikTok video stimuli with N = 289 men, comparing high- versus low-identity leadership conditions
Study 2 used tightly controlled text posts with N = 259 men
Planned comparisons in Study 1 provided evidence that high-identity-leadership content increased participants' identification as ADHDers
Identity leadership was operationalized as creating, representing, advancing, and embedding a shared sense of 'us'
Results
Identity leadership in influencer content was associated with greater help-seeking attitudes across both studies.
The association was observed across both experimental formats (video and text posts)
Study 1 used authentic TikTok videos extracted from real social media content
Study 2 used experimentally controlled text posts to isolate the effect of identity leadership
Both studies used exclusively male participants
Results
Identity leadership in influencer content was associated with greater self-care intentions across both studies.
Self-care intentions were measured in both the video (Study 1, N = 289) and text post (Study 2, N = 259) conditions
In Study 2, identity leadership was particularly important for mental health professional influencers compared to lay influencers in promoting self-care intentions
The effect of influencer type (professional vs. lay) interacted with identity leadership specifically for self-care intentions
Results
The effect of identity leadership on self-care intentions in Study 2 was moderated by influencer type, with the effect being more pronounced for mental health professionals than lay influencers.
Study 2 (N = 259 men) used tightly controlled text posts to compare professional versus lay influencers
Identity leadership was 'particularly important for mental health professional influencers (compared to lay influencers) in promoting self-care intentions'
This interaction effect was not the primary hypothesis but emerged from planned comparisons in Study 2
The use of controlled text stimuli in Study 2 allowed for cleaner causal inference compared to Study 1's naturalistic videos
Background
The study examined ADHD-related social media content in the context of concerns that influencers lead people to interpret everyday experiences as symptoms of mental ill health.
The research was motivated by 'growing concern that influencers can lead people to interpret everyday experiences as symptoms of mental ill health'
ADHD was selected as the focal diagnostic label for both studies
The paper frames influencer mental health content as potentially shaping 'perceptions of self, symptoms and behavioural intentions'
The title references 'The Siren's call,' suggesting concern about potentially misleading or over-pathologizing influence
Methods
Study 1 used authentic TikTok video stimuli to create ecologically valid experimental conditions comparing high versus low identity leadership.
Videos were extracted directly from TikTok rather than created by researchers, preserving naturalistic content
Sample consisted of N = 289 men
The high- versus low-identity-leadership contrast was the primary experimental manipulation
Using real TikTok content represents a methodological strength for external validity but limits experimental control compared to Study 2
What This Means
This research suggests that how social media influencers talk about ADHD — specifically whether they create a strong sense of shared identity among their followers (e.g., 'we ADHDers') — can significantly shape how viewers see themselves and what they decide to do about it. In two separate experiments with male participants, researchers found that influencer content high in 'identity leadership' (building a collective 'us' around an ADHD identity) led people to more strongly identify as having ADHD, hold more positive attitudes toward seeking help, and express stronger intentions to engage in self-care. One study used real TikTok videos; the other used carefully designed text posts to isolate the specific effect of identity language.
The research also found that the type of influencer matters: when a mental health professional (rather than an everyday person) used identity leadership techniques, it had a stronger effect on people's intentions to engage in self-care. This suggests that the combination of perceived professional credibility and identity-building language may be especially powerful in shaping mental health-related behavior.
This research suggests that social media influencers — whether intentionally or not — may be using community-building language to influence how ordinary people understand and label their own mental health experiences. While increased help-seeking can sometimes be beneficial, the findings also raise questions about whether this kind of content encourages people to adopt diagnostic labels (like ADHD) for everyday experiences that may not reflect a clinical condition. The study highlights the need to better understand how social media shapes mental health beliefs and decisions.
Yuan-Hao Cheng, T. Cruwys, Alysia M. Robertson, Mark Stevens, S. A. Haslam. (2026). The Siren's call: How social media influencers are using identity leadership to shape diagnostic label identification and self‐care intentions. British Journal of Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.70078