COVID-19, Social Distancing, & Adolescent Mental Health on Twitter: An Online Content Analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reese Haley Hyzer ◽  
Joshua J Jerisha
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Adolescent Mental Health ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Online Content ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Significant Difference

BACKGROUND In the early days of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis, high engagement with pandemic-related social media was correlated with a 22.6% increase in anxiety and a 48.3% increase in depression. Before the start of the pandemic, young people were already at an elevated risk of anxiety and depression, with 20% of college students reporting at least one mental health condition. Currently, it is unclear what role COVID-19 messaging on social media has played in the adolescent mental health response to the pandemic. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to explore co-occurrences between mentions of social distancing and mental health on Twitter, as well as linguistic elements of these posts. METHODS Our study was an online content analysis on Twitter. Tweets with hashtag #COVID19 were sampled from March 2020 and April 2020. Social media demographics were determined for both months. These Tweets were then evaluated for individual and co-occurrence mentions of social distancing and mental health. The presence of media (images, videos, or hyperlinks) was also recorded. The Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program we used measured the prevalence of language under the categories of anxiety, anger, sadness, and risk, as well as the usage of 1st person singular pronouns and 1st person plural pronouns. Additionally, overall emotional tone was determined for both datasets. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze social media demographics and post content. LIWC scores between March and April were compared with independent t-tests. RESULTS A national sample of 100 Tweets with hashtag #COVID19 were collected. 50 Tweets were sampled from March 2020 and April 2020 respectively. Among March Tweets, 44% (n = 22) referenced social distancing, 48% (n = 24) referenced mental health, and 22% (n = 11) referenced both. Among April Tweets, 54% (n = 27) referenced social distancing, 22% (n = 11) referenced mental health, and 12% (n = 6) referenced both. The mean LIWC scores between March and April decreased 1.46 points for singular pronouns (p = 0.0271). There was no significant difference between March and April Tweets in the LIWC scores for anxiety, anger, sadness, risk, and plural pronouns. CONCLUSIONS Between March and April, we found that references to social distancing became more frequent, while references to mental health decreased. Likewise, singular pronoun usage decreased significantly. These findings do not imply a diminished mental health impact, but rather suggest an increased focus on collective action over individual sentiment. Future studies should utilize interviews and focus groups to further examine the relevant mental health implications among individual adolescents.

Mental health symptoms in the comment sections of climate change posts on Instagram: A content analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen Tsao ◽  
Anna Jolliff
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Symptoms Of Depression ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Social Media Platforms

BACKGROUND Background: In ever increasing frequency, shocking news reports, opinion pieces and sad imagery are being posted on social media platforms that are widely used by adolescents. Such posts may have the potential to affect adolescent mental health. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis analyzing comments under positively and negatively framed climate change advocacy posts, in order to gauge symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as positive affect. METHODS A sample of 100 Instagram comments on 10 positive and 10 negatively framed climate change advocacy posts were collected and analyzed for symptoms of depression, anxiety and positive affect. Posts were found through Instagram’s hashtag section, and both the positive and negative ones were found on ‘#climatechange’, under the ‘most popular tab’. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyze the comments under each post and to understand differences in mental health-related comments below positive and negative climate change posts. RESULTS Seventeen percent of total comments referenced depression, 5% showed anxious symptoms, and 32% referenced positive affect. No statistically significant difference was found between likes, comments, and followers on negative versus positively framed climate change posts. CONCLUSIONS While depressive and anxious symptoms did exist in Instagram comment sections, they were less prevalent than positive references. Both positive and negative post accounts had around the same number of likes and followers, suggesting that neither post type significantly benefits or hurts account popularity. This suggests that Instagram is a viable platform for positive messages and climate change activism in general. Further research should look into the prevalence of mental health references in climate change content on other social media sites.

Comparing Representation of Depression on Reddit and Twitter Social Media Platforms (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan Kaji ◽  
Maggie Bushman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Dsm Iv ◽  
Twitter Users

BACKGROUND Adolescents with depression often turn to social media to express their feelings, for support, and for educational purposes. Little is known about how Reddit, a forum-based platform, compares to Twitter, a newsfeed platform, when it comes to content surrounding depression. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to identify differences between Reddit and Twitter concerning how depression is discussed and represented online. METHODS A content analysis of Reddit posts and Twitter posts, using r/depression and #depression, identified signs of depression using the DSM-IV criteria. Other youth-related topics, including School, Family, and Social Activity, and the presence of medical or promotional content were also coded for. Relative frequency of each code was then compared between platforms as well as the average DSM-IV score for each platform. RESULTS A total of 102 posts were included in this study, with 53 Reddit posts and 49 Twitter posts. Findings suggest that Reddit has more content with signs of depression with 92% than Twitter with 24%. 28.3% of Reddit posts included medical content compared to Twitter with 18.4%. 53.1% of Twitter posts had promotional content while Reddit posts didn’t contain promotional content. CONCLUSIONS Users with depression seem more willing to discuss their mental health on the subreddit r/depression than on Twitter. Twitter users also use #depression with a wider variety of topics, not all of which actually involve a case of depression.

Using Natural Language Processing to Assess the Psychological Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Insomnia via Tweets: A Pre-Post Retrospective Pilot Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Maghsoudi ◽  
Sara Nowakowski ◽  
Ritwick Agrawal ◽  
Amir Sharafkhaneh ◽  
Sadaf Aram ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Additional Stress ◽  
Mental Health Condition ◽  
Twitter Users

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed additional stress on population health that may result in a higher incidence of insomnia. In this study, we hypothesized that using natural language processing (NLP) to explore social media would help to identify the mental health condition of the population experiencing insomnia after the outbreak of COVID-19. OBJECTIVE In this study, we hypothesized that using natural language processing (NLP) to explore social media would help to identify the mental health condition of the population experiencing insomnia after the outbreak of COVID-19. METHODS We designed a pre-post retrospective study using public social media content from Twitter. We categorized tweets based on time into two intervals: prepandemic (01/01/2019 to 01/01/2020) and pandemic (01/01/2020 to 01/01/2021). We used NLP to analyze polarity (positive/negative) and intensity of emotions and also users’ tweets psychological states in terms of sadness, anxiety and anger by counting the words related to these categories in each tweet. Additionally, we performed temporal analysis to examine the effect of time on the users’ insomnia experience. RESULTS We extracted 268,803 tweets containing the word insomnia (prepandemic, 123,293 and pandemic, 145,510). The odds of negative tweets (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.29-1.33), anger (OR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.16-1.21), and anxiety (OR, 1.24; 95% CI: 1.21-1.26) were higher during the pandemic compared to prepandemic. The likelihood of negative tweets after midnight was higher than for other daily intevals, comprising approximately 60% of all negative insomnia-related tweets in 2020 and 2021 collectively. CONCLUSIONS Twitter users shared more negative tweets about insomnia during the pandemic than during the year before. Also, more anger and anxiety-related content were disseminated during the pandemic on the social media platform. Future studies using an NLP framework could assess tweets about other psychological distress, habit changes, weight gain due to inactivity, and the effect of viral infection on sleep.

scholarly journals Feeling the Fear and Doing It Anyway:  A Case Study of CHRS-City, an Intervention for Adolescent Mental Health

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Lisa Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Adolescent Mental Health ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Mental Health Condition ◽  
Regular School ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Support Students

<p>Provision for adolescent mental health in New Zealand is in its infancy. CRHS-City is the first Ministry of Education funded initiative that addresses adolescent mental health and transition back to school in New Zealand. This thesis examines the experiences of students and their families attending CRHS-City and how they were supported to transition back to school or further education. This research is important as it focuses on a growing need and documents Central Regional Health School’s attempt to address it. The methodological approach was a multiple case study underpinned by a constructivist paradigm. A qualitative approach was appropriate for this study as the research wanted to capture the impact attending CRHS-City had on a specific group of students and their transition back to a regular school or further education. Three students and their families identified they would be willing to be interviewed as part of this study. Eight overarching themes emerged from the research. Participants described positive outcomes from their experience of attending CRHS-City. This study has found being at CRHS-City helped the participants explore different ways of managing their mental health condition and gain confidence in their abilities to do so, which in turn supported the overall goal of a return to school or further education. However this was not an easy process for either the students or their parents. The findings from this research identified recommendations specific to CRHS-City and for the education sector in general to support students who have a mental health condition continue with their education goals. Support for the student’s family and the regular school is an essential part of this process. Research into effective interventions within mainstream schools to support students who have mental health needs is seen as a logical next step.</p>

scholarly journals COVID-19 and social restrictions: the potential mental health impact of social distancing and isolation for young Indigenous Australians

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 599-600
Author(s):  
Kim Usher ◽  
Rhonda Marriott ◽  
Reakeeta Smallwood ◽  
Roz Walker ◽  
Carrington Shepherd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Indigenous Australians ◽  
Social Distancing

scholarly journals Is social media screen time really associated with poor adolescent mental health?  A time use diary study

2020 ◽  
Vol 274 ◽  
pp. 864-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber Barthorpe ◽  
Lizzy Winstone ◽  
Becky Mars ◽  
Paul Moran
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Time Use ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Adolescent Mental Health ◽  
Diary Study

scholarly journals Conversations and Medical News Frames on Twitter: Infodemiological Study on COVID-19 in South Korea

10.2196/18897 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. e18897 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Woo Park ◽  
Sejung Park ◽  
Miyoung Chong
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Medical Information ◽  
Systematic Research ◽  
News Frames ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Significant Difference

Background SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2) was spreading rapidly in South Korea at the end of February 2020 following its initial outbreak in China, making Korea the new center of global attention. The role of social media amid the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has often been criticized, but little systematic research has been conducted on this issue. Social media functions as a convenient source of information in pandemic situations. Objective Few infodemiology studies have applied network analysis in conjunction with content analysis. This study investigates information transmission networks and news-sharing behaviors regarding COVID-19 on Twitter in Korea. The real time aggregation of social media data can serve as a starting point for designing strategic messages for health campaigns and establishing an effective communication system during this outbreak. Methods Korean COVID-19-related Twitter data were collected on February 29, 2020. Our final sample comprised of 43,832 users and 78,233 relationships on Twitter. We generated four networks in terms of key issues regarding COVID-19 in Korea. This study comparatively investigates how COVID-19-related issues have circulated on Twitter through network analysis. Next, we classified top news channels shared via tweets. Lastly, we conducted a content analysis of news frames used in the top-shared sources. Results The network analysis suggests that the spread of information was faster in the Coronavirus network than in the other networks (Corona19, Shincheon, and Daegu). People who used the word “Coronavirus” communicated more frequently with each other. The spread of information was faster, and the diameter value was lower than for those who used other terms. Many of the news items highlighted the positive roles being played by individuals and groups, directing readers’ attention to the crisis. Ethical issues such as deviant behavior among the population and an entertainment frame highlighting celebrity donations also emerged often. There was a significant difference in the use of nonportal (n=14) and portal news (n=26) sites between the four network types. The news frames used in the top sources were similar across the networks (P=.89, 95% CI 0.004-0.006). Tweets containing medically framed news articles (mean 7.571, SD 1.988) were found to be more popular than tweets that included news articles adopting nonmedical frames (mean 5.060, SD 2.904; N=40, P=.03, 95% CI 0.169-4.852). Conclusions Most of the popular news on Twitter had nonmedical frames. Nevertheless, the spillover effect of the news articles that delivered medical information about COVID-19 was greater than that of news with nonmedical frames. Social media network analytics cannot replace the work of public health officials; however, monitoring public conversations and media news that propagates rapidly can assist public health professionals in their complex and fast-paced decision-making processes.

scholarly journals Social media monitoring of mental health during disasters: A scoping review of methods and applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Teague ◽  
Adrian B. R. Shatte ◽  
Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz ◽  
Delyse Hutchinson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Statistical Modelling ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Intervention Delivery ◽  
Social Media Monitoring ◽  
Media Monitoring ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundDifficulties in deploying mental health assessments during disasters have resulted in emerging research examining the use of social media as a population mental health monitoring tool. This review synthesises this literature, with particular focus on research methods and applications.MethodsThe field of social media monitoring of mental health during disasters was rapidly mapped using a scoping review methodology. Six interdisciplinary research databases were searched for relevant articles, with data extracted on the articles’ applications and data collection and analysis methods. Articles were then synthesised via narrative review.ResultsForty-seven papers were identified. Three application themes emerged, including: (i) estimating mental health burden; (ii) planning or evaluating interventions and policies, and (iii) knowledge discovery, where theories of human behaviour and mental health were evaluated. Applications across 30 mental health issues were identified, with mental health typically assessed using established linguistic dictionaries. Features extracted from social media data included linguistic, psycholinguistic, behavioural, and demographic features. Analytic techniques involved machine learning, statistical modelling, and qualitative analyses.ConclusionsThe application of social media monitoring has considerable potential for measuring the mental health impact on populations during disasters. As an emerging field, opportunities for further work were identified to improve mental health assessment methods, examine specific mental health conditions, and trial tools in real-world settings. Platforms integrated with such techniques may offer significant benefits for monitoring mental health in contexts where formal assessments are difficult to deploy, and may potentially be harnessed to monitor the impact of response efforts and intervention delivery.

scholarly journals Social Media Use and Adolescent Mental Health: Findings From the UK Millennium Cohort Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 59-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Kelly ◽  
Afshin Zilanawala ◽  
Cara Booker ◽  
Amanda Sacker
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Adolescent Mental Health ◽  
Millennium Cohort Study ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Uk Millennium Cohort Study ◽  
The Uk
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