Adolescence to Adulthood Online: Tracing Youth Digital Expression on Reddit Over 13 Years

Abstract

Reddit is widely used in research on youth and social media, yet there has been limited systematic examination of the diversity of content produced by young users or how their participation changes over time. We present a descriptive quantitative analysis of 443,856 Reddit posts between 2010 and 2023 by authors who self-disclosed their age as 11-24. Using topic modeling, longitudinal statistical analyses, and psycholinguistic measures, we identify nuances in the topics discussed by youth and examine how posting patterns vary across age groups over time. Our results document both stable themes and extreme shifts in youth discourse, offering a comprehensive benchmark for longitudinal characterization of youth participation on Reddit. We further discuss how our findings signal early social media adoption by youth for self-disclosure and the extent to which changes in youth discourse may mirror broader offline events and evolving youth concerns.