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Kim D, Jung W, Nam S, Jeon H, Baek J, Zhu Y. Understanding information behavior of South Korean Twitter users who express suicidality on Twitter. Digit Health 2022; 8:20552076221086339. [PMID: 35340901 PMCID: PMC8943454 DOI: 10.1177/20552076221086339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective Although there were few studies on how suicidal users behave on Twitter, they only investigated partial aspects such as tweeting frequency and tweet length. Therefore, we aim to understand the various information behavior of suicidal users in South Korea. Methods To achieve this goal, we annotated 20,000 tweets and identified 1097 tweets with the expression of suicidality (i.e. suicidal tweets) and 229 suicidal users (i.e. experimental group). Using the data, a user profile analysis, comparative analysis with control group, and tweets/hashtags analysis were performed. Results Our results show that many suicidal users used suicide-related keywords in their user IDs, usernames, descriptions, and pinned tweets. We also found that, compared to the control group, the experimental group show different patterns of information behavior. The experimental group did not frequently use Twitter and, on average, wrote longer texts than the control group. A clear seasonal pattern was also identified in the experimental group's tweeting behavior. Frequently used keywords/hashtags were extracted from tweets written by the experimental group for the purpose of understanding their concerns and detecting more suicidal tweets. Conclusions We believe that our study will help in the understanding of suicidal users' information behavior on social media and lay the basis for more accurate actions for suicide prevention and early intervention on social media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donghun Kim
- Department of Library and Information Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Woojin Jung
- Department of Library and Information Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Seojin Nam
- Department of Library and Information Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Hongjin Jeon
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Depression Center, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jihyun Baek
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yongjun Zhu
- Department of Library and Information Science, Yonsei University,
Seoul, Republic of Korea
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2
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Shen J, Zhang S, Tong Y, Dong X, Wang X, Fu G, Zhao L, Wu M, Yin Y, Wang Y, Liu NH, Wu J, Li J. Establishment and psychometric characteristics of emotional words list for suicidal risk assessment in speech emotion recognition. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:1022036. [PMID: 36440401 PMCID: PMC9691664 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1022036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Emotional disturbance is an important risk factor of suicidal behaviors. To ensure speech emotion recognition (SER), a novel technique to evaluate emotional characteristics of speech, precision in labeling emotional words is a prerequisite. Currently, a list of suicide-related emotional word is absent. The aims of this study were to establish an Emotional Words List for Suicidal Risk Assessment (EWLSRA) and test the reliability and validity of the list in a suicide-related SER task. METHODS Suicide-related emotion words were nominated and discussed by 10 suicide prevention professionals. Sixty-five tape-recordings of calls to a large psychological support hotline in China were selected to test psychometric characteristics of the EWLSRA. RESULTS The results shows that the EWLSRA consists of 11 emotion words which were highly associated with suicide risk scores and suicide attempts. Results of exploratory factor analysis support one-factor model of this list. The Fleiss' Kappa value of 0.42 indicated good inter-rater reliability of the list. In terms of criteria validities, indices of despair (Spearman ρ = 0.54, P < 0.001), sadness (ρ = 0.37, P = 0.006), helplessness (ρ = 0.45, P = 0.001), and numbness (ρ = 0.35, P = 0.009) were significantly associated with suicidal risk scores. The index of the emotional word of numbness in callers with suicide attempt during the 12-month follow-up was significantly higher than that in callers without suicide attempt during the follow-up (P = 0.049). CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that the EWLSRA has adequate psychometric performance in identifying suicide-related emotional words of recording of hotline callers to a national wide suicide prevention line. This list can be useful for SER in future studies on suicide prevention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Shen
- Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing, China.,WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Shuo Zhang
- Faculty of Information Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Yongsheng Tong
- Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing, China.,WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Beijing, China.,Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing, China
| | - Xiangmin Dong
- Faculty of Information Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Xuelian Wang
- Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing, China.,WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Beijing, China.,Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing, China
| | - Guanghui Fu
- Sorbonne Université, Institut du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute-ICM, CNRS, Inria, Inserm, AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
| | - Liting Zhao
- Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing, China.,WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Mengjie Wu
- Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing, China.,WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Beijing, China.,Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing, China
| | - Yi Yin
- Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing, China.,WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Beijing, China.,Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing, China
| | - Yuehua Wang
- Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing, China.,WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Beijing, China
| | - Nancy H Liu
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Jianlan Wu
- Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Beijing, China.,WHO Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Suicide Prevention, Beijing, China.,Peking University Huilongguan Clinical Medical School, Beijing, China
| | - Jianqiang Li
- Faculty of Information Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
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3
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Tang J, Yu G, Yao X. Emotional Contagion in the Online Depression Community. Healthcare (Basel) 2021; 9:1609. [PMID: 34946335 PMCID: PMC8700837 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare9121609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2021] [Revised: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 11/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Negative emotions are prevalent in the online depression community (ODC), which potentially puts members at risk, according to the theory of emotional contagion. However, emotional contagion in the ODC has not been confirmed. The generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to verify the extent of emotional contagion using data from 1548 sample users in China's popular ODC. During interaction, the emotional themes were analyzed according to language use. The diurnal patterns of the interaction behaviors were also analyzed. We identified the susceptible groups and analyzed their characteristics. The results confirmed the occurrence of emotional contagion in ODC, that is, the extent to which the user's emotion was affected by the received emotion. Our study also found that when positive emotional contagion occurred, the replies contained more hopefulness, and when negative emotional contagion occurred, the replies contained more hopelessness and fear. Second, positive emotions were easier to spread, and people with higher activity in ODC were more susceptible. In addition, nighttime was an active period for user interaction. The results can help community managers and support groups take measures to promote the spread of positive emotions and reduce the spread of negative emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Guang Yu
- School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, 92 Xidazhi Street, Nangang District, Harbin 150001, China; (J.T.); (X.Y.)
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4
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Chiang YC, Chu M, Lin S, Cai X, Chen Q, Wang H, Li A, Rui J, Zhang X, Xie F, Lee CY, Chen T. Capturing the Trajectory of Psychological Status and Analyzing Online Public Reactions During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic Through Weibo Posts in China. Front Psychol 2021; 12:744691. [PMID: 34659064 PMCID: PMC8511417 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.744691] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
When a major, sudden infectious disease occurs, people tend to react emotionally and display reactions such as tension, anxiety, fear, depression, and somatization symptoms. Social media played a substantial awareness role in developing countries during the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study aimed to analyze public opinion regarding COVID-19 and to explore the trajectory of psychological status and online public reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic by examining online content from Weibo in China. This study consisted of three steps: first, Weibo posts created during the pandemic were collected and preprocessed on a large scale; second, public sentiment orientation was classified as "optimistic/pessimistic/neutral" orientation via natural language processing and manual determination procedures; and third, qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted to reveal the trajectory of public psychological status and online public reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public psychological status differed in different periods of the pandemic (from December 2019 to May 2020). The newly confirmed cases had an almost 1-month lagged effect on public psychological status. Among the 15 events with high impact indexes or related to government decisions, there were 10 optimism orientation > pessimism orientation (OP) events (2/3) and 5 pessimism orientation > optimism orientation (PO) events (1/3). Among the top two OP events, the high-frequency words were "race against time" and "support," while in the top two PO events, the high-frequency words were "irrationally purchase" and "pass away." We proposed a hypothesis that people developed negative self-perception when they received PO events, but their cognition was developed by how these external stimuli were processed and evaluated. These results offer implications for public health policymakers on understanding public psychological status from social media. This study demonstrates the benefits of promoting psychological healthcare and hygiene activity in the early period and improving risk perception for the public based on public opinion and the coping abilities of people. Health managers should focus on disseminating socially oriented strategies to improve the policy literacy of Internet users, thereby facilitating the disease prevention work for the COVID-19 pandemic and other major public events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Chen Chiang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Meijie Chu
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Shengnan Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Xinlan Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Qing Chen
- Nanjing Terlton Information Technology Co. Ltd., Nanjing, China
| | - Hongshuai Wang
- Beijing Hongbo Zhiwei Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing, China
| | - An Li
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Jia Rui
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Xiaoke Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Fang Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Chun-Yang Lee
- School of International Business, Xiamen University Tan Kah Kee College, Zhangzhou, China
| | - Tianmu Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
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5
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Huang CY, Tsai CW, Chi YC, Wu KCC, Chen YY. Changes in accessibility of suicide-related information on websites in Taiwan during 2016 and 2019. J Formos Med Assoc 2021; 121:335-341. [PMID: 34024719 DOI: 10.1016/j.jfma.2021.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2021] [Revised: 04/20/2021] [Accepted: 05/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE To the best of our knowledge, no studies have examined longitudinal changes in the accessibility of suicide-related content on Chinese-language websites. We investigated changes between 2016 and 2019 in suicide-related materials likely to be accessed by individuals through websites in Taiwan. METHODS In March 2019, we searched the Taiwanese versions of Google and Yahoo! using six suicide-related terms and compared the results to a search performed in 2016. Website characteristics (e.g., pro- or anti-suicide) generated by various keywords were calculated and compared in 2016 and 2019. RESULTS The number of anti-suicide websites exceeded that of pro-suicide websites in 2016 and 2019. Between 2016 and 2019, the proportion of pro-suicide sites decreased slightly from 16.3% (61 out of 375 sites) to 12.3% (51 out of 417 sites) (p = 0.10). User-generated webpages constituted the primary source of pro-suicide content at both time points. Over the same period, the proportion of pro-suicide information on internet forums decreased from 59.1% to 17.8% (p < 0.001); by contrast, pro-suicide content on news websites increased significantly, from 1.9% to 11.3% (p = 0.005). Searches with the term "painless suicide" were more likely to yield pro-suicide websites and less likely to generate anti-suicide ones than searches with "suicide" in both 2016 and 2019. CONCLUSIONS Harmful suicide-related information circulating on websites remained easily accessible to internet users in Taiwan, particularly through user-generated and news websites. Proper site moderation and implementation of online suicide reporting guidelines are still warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cho-Yin Huang
- Department of Psychiatry, Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan; Institute of Health Policy and Management, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chi-Wei Tsai
- Department of Psychiatry, Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Ying-Chen Chi
- Department of Healthcare Information and Management, Ming Chuan University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Kevin Chien-Chang Wu
- Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Bioethics, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei City, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan.
| | - Ying-Yeh Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, Taipei City Psychiatric Center, Taipei City Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan; Institute of Public Health and Department of Public Health, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei City, Taiwan.
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6
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Huang C, Xu X, Cai Y, Ge Q, Zeng G, Li X, Zhang W, Ji C, Yang L. Mining the Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients in China: Analysis of Social Media Posts. J Med Internet Res 2020; 22:e19087. [PMID: 32401210 PMCID: PMC7236610 DOI: 10.2196/19087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2020] [Revised: 05/03/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In December 2019, pneumonia cases of unknown origin were reported in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Identified as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the number of cases grew rapidly by human-to-human transmission in Wuhan. Social media, especially Sina Weibo (a major Chinese microblogging social media site), has become an important platform for the public to obtain information and seek help. OBJECTIVE This study aims to analyze the characteristics of suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients who asked for help on Sina Weibo. METHODS We conducted data mining on Sina Weibo and extracted the data of 485 patients who presented with clinical symptoms and imaging descriptions of suspected or laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19. In total, 9878 posts seeking help on Sina Weibo from February 3 to 20, 2020 were analyzed. We used a descriptive research methodology to describe the distribution and other epidemiological characteristics of patients with suspected or laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection. The distance between patients' home and the nearest designated hospital was calculated using the geographic information system ArcGIS. RESULTS All patients included in this study who sought help on Sina Weibo lived in Wuhan, with a median age of 63.0 years (IQR 55.0-71.0). Fever (408/485, 84.12%) was the most common symptom. Ground-glass opacity (237/314, 75.48%) was the most common pattern on chest computed tomography; 39.67% (167/421) of families had suspected and/or laboratory-confirmed family members; 36.58% (154/421) of families had 1 or 2 suspected and/or laboratory-confirmed members; and 70.52% (232/329) of patients needed to rely on their relatives for help. The median time from illness onset to real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing was 8 days (IQR 5.0-10.0), and the median time from illness onset to online help was 10 days (IQR 6.0-12.0). Of 481 patients, 32.22% (n=155) lived more than 3 kilometers away from the nearest designated hospital. CONCLUSIONS Our findings show that patients seeking help on Sina Weibo lived in Wuhan and most were elderly. Most patients had fever symptoms, and ground-glass opacities were noted in chest computed tomography. The onset of the disease was characterized by family clustering and most families lived far from the designated hospital. Therefore, we recommend the following: (1) the most stringent centralized medical observation measures should be taken to avoid transmission in family clusters; and (2) social media can help these patients get early attention during Wuhan's lockdown. These findings can help the government and the health department identify high-risk patients and accelerate emergency responses following public demands for help.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunmei Huang
- Department of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xinjie Xu
- Department of Emergency, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuyang Cai
- School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Qinmin Ge
- Department of Emergency, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Guangwang Zeng
- Department of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.,The Health Center of Nansheng Town, Wuzhishan, China
| | - Xiaopan Li
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, China.,Pudong Institute of Preventive Medicine, Pudong New Area, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Weide Zhang
- Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Center, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Chen Ji
- Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, Warwick Medical School, Coventry, United Kingdom
| | - Ling Yang
- Department of Geriatrics, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
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Chen Y, Zhang Y, Xu Z, Wang X, Lu J, Hu W. Avian Influenza A (H7N9) and related Internet search query data in China. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10434. [PMID: 31320681 PMCID: PMC6639335 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46898-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The use of Internet-based systems for infectious disease surveillance has been increasingly explored in recent years. However, few studies have used Internet search query or social media data to monitor spatial and temporal trends of avian influenza in China. This study investigated the potential of using search query and social media data in detecting and monitoring avian influenza A (H7N9) cases in humans in China. We collected weekly data on laboratory-confirmed H7N9 cases in humans, as well as H7N9-related Baidu Search Index (BSI) and Weibo Posting Index (WPI) data in China from 2013 to 2017, to explore the spatial and temporal trends of H7N9 cases and H7N9-related Internet search queries. Our findings showed a positive relationship of H7N9 cases with BSI and WPI search queries spatially and temporally. The outbreak threshold time and peak time of H7N9-related BSI and WPI searches preceded H7N9 cases in most years. Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) models with BSI (β = 0.008, p < 0.001) and WPI (β = 0.002, p = 0.036) were used to predict the number of H7N9 cases. Regression tree model analysis showed that the average H7N9 cases increased by over 2.4-fold (26.8/11) when BSI for H7N9 was > = 11524. Both BSI and WPI data could be used as indicators to develop an early warning system for H7N9 outbreaks in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Chen
- School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Yuzhou Zhang
- School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Zhiwei Xu
- School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Xuanzhuo Wang
- School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jiahai Lu
- School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
| | - Wenbiao Hu
- School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
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Wang Z, Yu G, Tian X. Exploring Behavior of People with Suicidal Ideation in a Chinese Online Suicidal Community. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2018; 16:ijerph16010054. [PMID: 30587805 PMCID: PMC6339245 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16010054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2018] [Revised: 12/23/2018] [Accepted: 12/24/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
People with suicidal ideation (PSI) are increasingly using social media to express suicidal feelings. Researchers have found that their internet-based communication may lead to the spread of suicidal ideation, which presents a set of challenges for suicide prevention. To develop effective prevention and intervention strategies that can be efficiently applied in online communities, we need to understand the behavior of PSI in internet-based communities. However, to date there have been no studies that specifically focus on the behavior of PSI in Chinese online communities. A total of 4489 postings in which users explicitly expressed their suicidal ideation were labeled from 560,000 postings in an internet-based suicidal community on Weibo (one of the biggest social media platforms in China) to explore their behavior. The results reveal that PSI are significantly more active than other users in the community. With the use of social network analysis, we also found that the more frequently users communicate with PSI, the more likely that users would become suicidal. In addition, Chinese women may be more likely to be at risk of suicide than men in the community. This study enriches our knowledge of PSI’s behavior in online communities, which may contribute to detecting and assisting PSI on social media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Wang
- School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
| | - Guang Yu
- School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
| | - Xianyun Tian
- School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China.
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9
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Characterizing Depression Issues on Sina Weibo. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2018; 15:ijerph15040764. [PMID: 29659489 PMCID: PMC5923806 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15040764] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2018] [Revised: 04/08/2018] [Accepted: 04/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The prevalence of depression has increased significantly over the past few years both in developed and developing countries. However, many people with symptoms of depression still remain untreated or undiagnosed. Social media may be a tool to help researchers and clinicians to identify and support individuals who experience depression. More than 394,000,000 postings were collected from China’s most popular social media website, Sina Weibo. 1000 randomly selected depression-related postings was coded and analyzed to learn the themes of these postings, and a text classifier was built to identify the postings indicating depression. The identified depressed users were compared with the general population on demographic characteristics, diurnal patterns, and patterns of emoticon usage. We found that disclosure of depression was the most popular theme; depression displayers were more engaged with social media compared to non-depression displayers, the depression postings showed geographical variations, depression displayers tended to be active during periods of leisure and sleep, and depression displayers used negative emoticons more frequently than non-depression displayers. This study offers a broad picture of depression references on China’s social media, which may be cost effectively developed to detect and help individuals who may suffer from depression disorders.
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