Age-Specific Linguistic Features of Depression via Social Media

Charlotte Rosario


Abstract
Social media data has become a crucial resource for understanding and detecting mental health challenges. However, there is a significant gap in our understanding of age-specific linguistic markers associated with classifying depression. This study bridges the gap by analyzing 25,241 text samples from 15,156 Reddit users with self-reported depression across two age groups: adolescents (13-20 year olds) and adults (21+). Through a quantitative exploratory analysis using LIWC, topic modeling, and data visualization, distinct patterns and topical differences emerged in the language of depression for adolescents and adults, including social concerns, temporal focuses, emotions, and cognition. These findings enhance our understanding of how depression is expressed on social media, bearing implications for accurate classification and tailored interventions across different age groups.
Anthology ID:
2023.ranlp-stud.4
Volume:
Proceedings of the 8th Student Research Workshop associated with the International Conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing
Month:
September
Year:
2023
Address:
Varna, Bulgaria
Editors:
Momchil Hardalov, Zara Kancheva, Boris Velichkov, Ivelina Nikolova-Koleva, Milena Slavcheva
Venue:
RANLP
SIG:
Publisher:
INCOMA Ltd., Shoumen, Bulgaria
Note:
Pages:
33–43
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2023.ranlp-stud.4
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Charlotte Rosario. 2023. Age-Specific Linguistic Features of Depression via Social Media. In Proceedings of the 8th Student Research Workshop associated with the International Conference Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing, pages 33–43, Varna, Bulgaria. INCOMA Ltd., Shoumen, Bulgaria.
Cite (Informal):
Age-Specific Linguistic Features of Depression via Social Media (Rosario, RANLP 2023)
Copy Citation:
PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2023.ranlp-stud.4.pdf