Applying Natural Language Processing to Evaluate News Media Coverage of Bullying and Cyberbullying

New Wine in an Old Bottle? Exposure to Bullying-Related Media and Bullying Perpetration Behavior in Daily Life Among Adolescents

Although the effect of media violence on aggression has garnered major attention, little is known about the link between bullying-related media exposure and bullying behaviors. Across three studies, we examined this association among Chinese adolescents. Study 1 used a large sample of adolescents (n=10,391, 51.4% boys) to investigate the link between bullying-related media exposure and bullying perpetration. Using another adolescent sample (n=3,125, 49.5% boys), Study 2 replicated the findings from Study 1 and extended the investigation from traditional bullying to cyberbullying perpetration. Study 3 examined the longitudinal associations between bullying-related media exposure and (cyber)bullying perpetration 6 months later (n = 2,744, 47.0% boys). The results suggested a positive, albeit small, association between exposure to bullying-related media and (cyber)bullying perpetration. Importantly, personal anti-bullying attitudes moderated this link, with a significant association observed among adolescents holding weak anti-bullying attitudes. Findings are discussed with respect to the media's effect on bullying behaviors.

Association of childhood bullying victimisation with suicide deaths: findings from a 50-year nationwide cohort study

BACKGROUND

Bullying victimisation has been associated with increased risk of suicide ideation and attempt throughout the lifespan, but no study has yet examined whether it translates to a greater risk of death by suicide. We aimed to determine the association of bullying victimisation with suicide mortality.

METHODS

Participants were drawn from the 1958 British birth cohort, a prospective follow-up of all births in 1 week in Britain in 1958. We conducted logistic regressions on 14 946 participants whose mothers reported bullying victimisation at 7 and 11 years with linked information on suicide deaths through the National Health Service Central Register.

RESULTS

Fifty-five participants (48 males) had died by suicide between the age 18 and 52 years. Bullying victimisation was associated with suicide mortality; a one standard deviation increases in bullying victimisation linked to an increased odds for suicide mortality [odds ratio (OR) 1.29; 1.02-1.64] during adulthood. The OR attenuated by 11% after adjustment for individual (e.g. behavioural and emotional problems) and familial characteristics (e.g. adverse childhood experiences, 1.18; 0.92-1.51). Analysis of bullying victimisation frequency categories yields similar results: compared with individuals who had not been bullied, those who had been frequently bullied had an increased odds for suicide mortality (OR 1.89; 0.99-3.62).

CONCLUSION

Our study suggests that individuals who have been frequently bullied have a small increased risk of dying by suicide, when no other risk factors is considered. Suicide prevention might start in childhood, with bullying included in a range of inter-correlated vulnerabilities encompassing behavioural and emotional difficulties and adverse experiences within the family.

Measuring the impact of simulation debriefing on the practices of interprofessional trauma teams using natural language processing

BACKGROUND

Natural language processing (NLP) may be a tool for automating trauma teamwork assessment in simulated scenarios.

METHODS

Using the Trauma Nontechnical Skills Assessment (T-NOTECHS), raters assessed video recordings of trauma teams in simulated pre-debrief (Sim1) and post-debrief (Sim2) trauma resuscitations. We developed codes through directed content analysis and created algorithms capturing teamwork-related discourse through NLP. Using a within subjects pre-post design (n = 150), we compared changes in teams' Sim1 versus Sim2 T-NOTECHS scores and automatically coded discourse to identify which NLP algorithms could identify skills assessed by the T-NOTECHS.

RESULTS

Automatically coded behaviors revealed significant post-debrief increases in teams' simulation discourse: Verbalizing Findings, Acknowledging Communication, Directed Communication, Directing Assessment and Role Assignment, and Leader as Hub for Information.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest NLP can capture changes in trauma team discourse. These findings have implications for the expedition of team assessment and innovations in real-time feedback when paired with speech-to-text technology.

How Do Chinese People View Cyberbullying? A Text Analysis Based on Social Media

The rise of cyberbullying has been of great concern for the general public. This study aims to explore public attitudes towards cyberbullying on Chinese social media. Cognition and emotion are important components of attitude, and this study innovatively used text analysis to extract the cognition and emotion of the posts. We used a web crawler to collect 53,526 posts related to cyberbullying in Chinese on Sina Weibo in a month, where emotions were detected using the software “Text Mind”, a Chinese linguistic psychological text analysis system, and the content analysis was performed using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic model. Sentiment analysis showed the frequency of negative emotion words was the highest in the posts; the frequency of anger, anxiety, and sadness words decreased in turn. The topic model analysis identified three common topics about cyberbullying: critiques on cyberbullying and support for its victims, rational expressions of anger and celebrity worship, and calls for further control. In summary, this study quantitatively reveals the negative attitudes of the Chinese public toward cyberbullying and conveys specific public concerns via three common topics. This will help us to better understand the demands of the Chinese public so that targeted support can be proposed to curb cyberbullying.

Adolescent and parent emotions and perceptions regarding news media stories about bullying: A qualitative study

News articles covering bullying have often focused on tragic situations. The purpose of this study was to understand adolescents' and parents' emotions and perceptions related to bullying news media coverage. Participants were recruited as adolescent-parent dyads from pediatric clinics. During qualitative interviews, participants read and commented on two news article excerpts: 1) a tragic 'fear-based' individual bullying news story; 2) a public health-oriented bullying news story. Qualitative analysis used the constant comparative approach. Our 50 participants included 25 adolescents with mean age 16.1 years (SD=0.97), 44% female and 72% Caucasian, and 25 parents with mean age 49.2 (SD=6.7) years, 80% female and 76% Caucasian. After reading the fear-based news excerpt, 19 adolescents (76%) and 18 parents (72%) responded that they felt negatively. For the public health-oriented excerpt, 12 adolescents (48%) and 20 parents (80%) felt positively. Further, over half of participants felt the news articles related to their lived experiences. Our data support that fear-based articles were associated with feeling sadness and hopelessness while public health-oriented news articles contributed to positive feelings and perceptions. This finding supports the potential of news media about bullying to serve as a venue for education or empowerment for families.

Adolescent Health on Social Media and the Mentorship of Youth Investigators: Five Content Analysis Studies Conducted by Youth Investigators

Although the literature on adolescent health includes studies that incorporate youth perspectives via a participatory design, research that is designed, conducted, and presented by youth remains absent. This paper presents the work of 5 youth investigators on the intersecting topics of adolescent health and social media. Each of these youths was equipped with tools, knowledge, and mentorship for scientifically evaluating a research question. The youths developed a research question that aligned with their interests and filled a gap that they identified in the literature. The youths, whose projects are featured in this paper, designed and conducted their own research project, drafted their own manuscript, and revised and resubmitted a draft based on reviewer input. Each youth worked with a research mentor; however, the research questions, study designs, and suggestions for future research were their own.

Letters of recommendation: Nuanced bias or useful affirmation?

Narrative letters of recommendation (NLORs) have become key elements of the application process for residency and fellowship. The potential to inadvertently admit bias into these subjective narratives has become an area of research focus across many disciplines. In the present review, we have highlighted the current data regarding bias in NLORs. We also believe that one of the most effective methods to eliminate bias from written recommendations is to first understand that it exists. Thus, the objective measures that have been taken to identify bias in NLORs are important steps in the right direction. We have presented and reflected on the accrued data on bias in NLORs pertaining to surgical training.