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Examining the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown in Wuhan and Lombardy: A Psycholinguistic Analysis on Weibo and Twitter

Author

Listed:
  • Yue Su

    (CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100101, China
    Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

  • Jia Xue

    (Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work& Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada)

  • Xiaoqian Liu

    (CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100101, China)

  • Peijing Wu

    (CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100101, China
    Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    School of Computing, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China)

  • Junxiang Chen

    (School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA)

  • Chen Chen

    (Middleware System Research Group, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, Canada)

  • Tianli Liu

    (Institute of Population, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China)

  • Weigang Gong

    (School of Sociology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Tingshao Zhu

    (CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing 100101, China
    Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)

Abstract

Many countries are taking strict quarantine policies to prevent the rapid spread of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) around the world, such as city lockdown. Cities in China and Italy were locked down in the early stage of the pandemic. The present study aims to examine and compare the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on individuals’ psychological states in China and Italy. We achieved the aim by (1) sampling Weibo users (geo-location = Wuhan, China) and Twitter users (geo-location = Lombardy, Italy); (2) fetching all the users’ published posts two weeks before and after the lockdown in each region (e.g., the lockdown date of Wuhan was 23 January 2020); (3) extracting the psycholinguistic features of these posts using the Simplified Chinese and Italian version of Language Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) dictionary; and (4) conducting Wilcoxon tests to examine the changes in the psycholinguistic characteristics of the posts before and after the lockdown in Wuhan and Lombardy, respectively. Results showed that individuals focused more on “home”, and expressed a higher level of cognitive process after a lockdown in both Wuhan and Lombardy. Meanwhile, the level of stress decreased, and the attention to leisure increased in Lombardy after the lockdown. The attention to group, religion, and emotions became more prevalent in Wuhan after the lockdown. Findings provide decision-makers timely evidence on public reactions and the impacts on psychological states in the COVID-19 context, and have implications for evidence-based mental health interventions in two countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Yue Su & Jia Xue & Xiaoqian Liu & Peijing Wu & Junxiang Chen & Chen Chen & Tianli Liu & Weigang Gong & Tingshao Zhu, 2020. "Examining the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown in Wuhan and Lombardy: A Psycholinguistic Analysis on Weibo and Twitter," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-10, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:12:p:4552-:d:375773
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Colella, Sara & Dufourt, Frédéric & Hildebrand, Vincent A. & Vivès, Rémi, 2023. "Mental health effects of COVID-19 lockdowns: A Twitter-based analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
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    9. Zuqi Wang & Yanting Qin, 2022. "The Impact of Shanghai Epidemic, China, 2022 on Public Psychology: A Sentiment Analysis of Microblog Users by Data Mining," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-14, August.
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