Content Analysis of Suicide Expressions in Reddit Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Content Analysis of Suicide Expressions in Reddit Before and During the Covid-19 Pandemic

by Dorothy C Mapua, PhD in Clinical Psychology Candidate

ABSTRACT:

This study conducted content analysis to examine if the intrapersonal and interpersonal factors of the Hopelessness Theory of Suicidality (HT) and the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide (IPTS) exist in suicide expressions in social media.  The study also utilized content analysis to investigate if other suicide factors can be found in suicide expressions in social media.  After discovering these suicide factors, the study then observed if there were noticeable changes in the factors of suicide behavior expressed in social media before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The procedure of Text Mining from Natural Language Processing (NLP) was used to extract comments related to suicide from the SubReddit of SuicideWatch.  The extraction and preparation of the comments yielded three data sets that comprise 4,083 sentences.  The results of the study show that the suicide factors of hopelessness from the HT as well as thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and acquired capability from the ITPS exist in suicide expressions in social media.  Also, four other suicide factors were found in the suicide expressions; namely:  predisposing experiences, clear suicide plan, emboldened decision for suicide, and difficulty in bearing emotional and mental pain.  The suicide factor of an emboldened decision for suicide that was discovered along with the other factors may be relatively unknown.  Therefore it merits a closer examination in future studies on suicide.  To an extent, the suicide factors showed noticeable changes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic but hopelessness and thwarted belongingness were the two most prevalent suicide factors.  This implies that the two suicide factors are most likely and definite indicators of suicide behavior through expression in social media.  This also signifies that the HT and the IPTS as well as other theories that include the other suicide factors can contribute to the understanding of suicide behavior.  Additionally, the study successfully utilized the data gathering procedure of text mining and the analysis of the qualitative approach in research.   This means that text mining and the qualitative approach can be combined to improve the manner of research for suicidology.

1:00pm Tuesday, October 31, 2023 (Online)

Adviser:

Lota A Teh, PhD

Panelists:

Arsenio S Alianan, Jr, PhD

Ma. Regina Justina E Estuar, PhD

Gilda D Lopez, PhD

Marc Eric S Reyes, PhD

Keywords/Key Phrases: suicide, suicide expressions, content analysis, text mining, Reddit