IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i21p13834-d951912.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Public Discourse Surrounding Suicide during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unsupervised Machine Learning Analysis of Twitter Posts over a One-Year Period

Author

Listed:
  • Shu Rong Lim

    (Health Services Research Unit, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore)

  • Qin Xiang Ng

    (Health Services Research Unit, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
    MOH Holdings Pte Ltd., 1 Maritime Square, Singapore 099253, Singapore)

  • Xiaohui Xin

    (Health Services Research Unit, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore)

  • Yu Liang Lim

    (MOH Holdings Pte Ltd., 1 Maritime Square, Singapore 099253, Singapore)

  • Evelyn Swee Kim Boon

    (Department of Psychology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore)

  • Tau Ming Liew

    (Department of Psychiatry, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore 169608, Singapore
    SingHealth Duke-NUS Medicine Academic Clinical Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore
    Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117549, Singapore)

Abstract

Many studies have forewarned the profound emotional and psychosocial impact of the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. This study thus aimed to examine how individuals relate to suicide amid the COVID-19 pandemic from a global perspective via the public Twitter discourse around suicide and COVID-19. Original Twitter tweets from 1 February 2020 to 10 February 2021 were searched, with terms related to “COVID-19”, “suicide”, or “self-harm”. An unsupervised machine learning approach and topic modelling were used to identify topics from unique tweets, with each topic further grouped into themes using manually conducted thematic analysis by the study investigators. A total of 35,904 tweets related to suicide and COVID-19 were processed into 42 topics and six themes. The main themes were: (1) mixed reactions to COVID-19 public health policies and their presumed impact on suicide; (2) biopsychosocial impact of COVID-19 pandemic on suicide and self-harm; (3) comparing mortality rates of COVID-19, suicide, and other leading causes of death; (4) mental health support for individuals at risk of suicide; (5) reported cases and public reactions to news related to COVID-19, suicide, and homicide; and (6) figurative usage of the word suicide. The general public was generally concerned about governments’ responses as well as the perturbing effects on mental health, suicide, the economy, and at-risk populations.

Suggested Citation

  • Shu Rong Lim & Qin Xiang Ng & Xiaohui Xin & Yu Liang Lim & Evelyn Swee Kim Boon & Tau Ming Liew, 2022. "Public Discourse Surrounding Suicide during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Unsupervised Machine Learning Analysis of Twitter Posts over a One-Year Period," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:13834-:d:951912
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/13834/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/13834/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Takanao Tanaka & Shohei Okamoto, 2021. "Increase in suicide following an initial decline during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 229-238, February.
    2. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem, 2020. "Economic impact of government interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic: International evidence from financial markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mahata, Ajit & Rai, Anish & Nurujjaman, Md. & Prakash, Om, 2021. "Modeling and analysis of the effect of COVID-19 on the stock price: V and L-shape recovery," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 574(C).
    2. Ponzoa, José M. & Gómez, Andrés & Mas, José M., 2023. "EU27 and USA institutions in the digital ecosystem: Proposal for a digital presence measurement index," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    3. Al-Maadid, Alanoud & Alhazbi, Saleh & Al-Thelaya, Khaled, 2022. "Using machine learning to analyze the impact of coronavirus pandemic news on the stock markets in GCC countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Beckles, Jamila & Jackman, Mahalia, 2024. "Financial worry and government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in 88 Countries: Did public confidence in National Governments matter?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    5. Ruri Okubo & Ryusuke Matsumoto & Eishi Motomura & Motohiro Okada, 2024. "Uncertainties of Economic Policy and Government Management Stability Played Important Roles in Increasing Suicides in Japan from 2009 to 2023," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(10), pages 1-18, October.
    6. Afees A. Salisu & Abdulsalam Abidemi Sikiru & Philip C. Omoke, 2023. "COVID-19 pandemic and financial innovations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 3885-3904, August.
    7. Narasingha Das & Partha Gangopadhyay, 2023. "Did weekly economic index and volatility index impact US food sales during the first year of the pandemic?," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, December.
    8. Anthony Fakhoury & Ali Fakih, 2023. "Government intervention and business response as determinants of business continuity amid COVID-19: the case of Jordan and Morocco," International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 17(2), pages 196-219.
    9. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem & Goodell, John W., 2022. "The impact of social cohesion on stock market resilience: Evidence from COVID-19," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    10. Kristina Gligorić & Arnaud Chiolero & Emre Kıcıman & Ryen W. White & Robert West, 2022. "Population-scale dietary interests during the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Elgammal, Mohammed M. & Ahmed, Walid M.A. & Alshami, Abdullah, 2021. "Price and volatility spillovers between global equity, gold, and energy markets prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    12. Aharon, David Y. & Siev, Smadar, 2021. "COVID-19, government interventions and emerging capital markets performance," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    13. repec:ers:journl:v:xxiv:y:2021:i:2b:p:308-319 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Cevat Giray Aksoy & Jose Maria Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis & Mathias Dolls & Pablo Zarate, 2022. "Working from Home Around the World," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 53(2 (Fall)), pages 281-360.
    15. Omrane Guedhami & April Knill & William L. Megginson & Lemma W. Senbet, 2022. "The dark side of globalization: Evidence from the impact of COVID-19 on multinational companies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(8), pages 1603-1640, October.
    16. Wijitbusaba Marome & Rajib Shaw, 2021. "COVID-19 Response in Thailand and Its Implications on Future Preparedness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-10, January.
    17. Isaac Ampofo Atta Senior & Isaac Ampofo Atta Junior & Enock Tweneboah Darkwa, 2021. "Effects Of Coronavirus On Our Social Life And Information Sharing," Social Values & Society (SVS), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 3(2), pages 44-50, May.
    18. Haruhiko Midorikawa & Hirokazu Tachikawa & Miyuki Aiba & Yuki Shiratori & Daichi Sugawara & Naoaki Kawakami & Ryo Okubo & Takahiro Tabuchi, 2022. "Proposed Cut-Off Score for the Japanese Version of the Fear of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Scale (FCV-19S): Evidence from a Large-Scale National Survey in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, December.
    19. Aviad Tur-Sinai & Netta Bentur & Paolo Fabbietti & Giovanni Lamura, 2021. "Impact of the Outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Formal and Informal Care of Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Cross-National Clustering of Empirical Evidence from 23 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-13, June.
    20. Haochang Yang & Peidong Deng, 2021. "The Impact of COVID-19 and Government Intervention on Stock Markets of OECD Countries," Asian Economics Letters, Asia-Pacific Applied Economics Association, vol. 1(4), pages 1-6.
    21. Jinho Kim & Sujeong Park & S. V. Subramanian & Taehoon Kim, 2023. "The Psychological Costs of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Heterogeneous Effects in South Korea: Evidence from a Difference-in-Differences Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 455-476, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:13834-:d:951912. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.