The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United States
Background. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health concerns (such as fear and loneliness) have been actively discussed on social media. We aim to examine mental health discussions on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and infer the demographic composition of Twitter users who had me...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Health Data Science |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.34133/2022/9758408 |
| _version_ | 1830409817152290816 |
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| author | Senqi Zhang Li Sun Daiwei Zhang Pin Li Yue Liu Ajay Anand Zidian Xie Dongmei Li |
| author_facet | Senqi Zhang Li Sun Daiwei Zhang Pin Li Yue Liu Ajay Anand Zidian Xie Dongmei Li |
| author_sort | Senqi Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health concerns (such as fear and loneliness) have been actively discussed on social media. We aim to examine mental health discussions on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and infer the demographic composition of Twitter users who had mental health concerns. Methods. COVID-19-related tweets from March 5th, 2020, to January 31st, 2021, were collected through Twitter streaming API using keywords (i.e., “corona,” “covid19,” and “covid”). By further filtering using keywords (i.e., “depress,” “failure,” and “hopeless”), we extracted mental health-related tweets from the US. Topic modeling using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation model was conducted to monitor users’ discussions surrounding mental health concerns. Deep learning algorithms were performed to infer the demographic composition of Twitter users who had mental health concerns during the pandemic. Results. We observed a positive correlation between mental health concerns on Twitter and the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Topic modeling showed that “stay-at-home,” “death poll,” and “politics and policy” were the most popular topics in COVID-19 mental health tweets. Among Twitter users who had mental health concerns during the pandemic, Males, White, and 30-49 age group people were more likely to express mental health concerns. In addition, Twitter users from the east and west coast had more mental health concerns. Conclusions. The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on mental health concerns on Twitter in the US. Certain groups of people (such as Males and White) were more likely to have mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T19:19:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-19d0f47c2dec48488ae99c0f83ca032c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2765-8783 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T19:19:02Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Health Data Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-19d0f47c2dec48488ae99c0f83ca032c2022-12-21T19:29:03ZengAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Health Data Science2765-87832022-01-01202210.34133/2022/9758408The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United StatesSenqi Zhang0Li Sun1Daiwei Zhang2Pin Li3Yue Liu4Ajay Anand5Zidian Xie6Dongmei Li7Goergen Institute for Data Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USAGoergen Institute for Data Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USAGoergen Institute for Data Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USAGoergen Institute for Data Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USAGoergen Institute for Data Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USAGoergen Institute for Data Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USADepartment of Clinical & Translational Research, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USADepartment of Clinical & Translational Research, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USABackground. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health concerns (such as fear and loneliness) have been actively discussed on social media. We aim to examine mental health discussions on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and infer the demographic composition of Twitter users who had mental health concerns. Methods. COVID-19-related tweets from March 5th, 2020, to January 31st, 2021, were collected through Twitter streaming API using keywords (i.e., “corona,” “covid19,” and “covid”). By further filtering using keywords (i.e., “depress,” “failure,” and “hopeless”), we extracted mental health-related tweets from the US. Topic modeling using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation model was conducted to monitor users’ discussions surrounding mental health concerns. Deep learning algorithms were performed to infer the demographic composition of Twitter users who had mental health concerns during the pandemic. Results. We observed a positive correlation between mental health concerns on Twitter and the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. Topic modeling showed that “stay-at-home,” “death poll,” and “politics and policy” were the most popular topics in COVID-19 mental health tweets. Among Twitter users who had mental health concerns during the pandemic, Males, White, and 30-49 age group people were more likely to express mental health concerns. In addition, Twitter users from the east and west coast had more mental health concerns. Conclusions. The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on mental health concerns on Twitter in the US. Certain groups of people (such as Males and White) were more likely to have mental health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.http://dx.doi.org/10.34133/2022/9758408 |
| spellingShingle | Senqi Zhang Li Sun Daiwei Zhang Pin Li Yue Liu Ajay Anand Zidian Xie Dongmei Li The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United States Health Data Science |
| title | The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United States |
| title_full | The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United States |
| title_fullStr | The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United States |
| title_full_unstemmed | The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United States |
| title_short | The COVID-19 Pandemic and Mental Health Concerns on Twitter in the United States |
| title_sort | covid 19 pandemic and mental health concerns on twitter in the united states |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.34133/2022/9758408 |
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