The Effect of COVID-19 on the Depressive and Suicidal Word Use in Victims of Domestic Violence

Victims of domestic violence have a threefold risk for developing depression and are likelier to commit suicide than non-victims. As the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the incidence of domestic violence and mental health problems, social media site Reddit was used to detect changes in depression and suicidality in victims word use (using more first-person singular pronouns, negative emotion words, death-related words and less positive emotion words). The present study aims to see whether the word use suggesting depression or suicidality has increased in the victims (r/domesticviolence) versus non-victims (r/changemyview) from pre-COVID19 to during COVID-19. 1669 and 2358 posts for the r/domesticviolence and r/changemyview respectively were analyzed using LIWC2015. The main effect of subreddit showed that victims used more first-person singular pronouns (Eta squared η²=.668) and negative emotion words (Eta squared η²=.167), both having a large effect. The control group used more...Show moreVictims of domestic violence have a threefold risk for developing depression and are likelier to commit suicide than non-victims. As the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the incidence of domestic violence and mental health problems, social media site Reddit was used to detect changes in depression and suicidality in victims word use (using more first-person singular pronouns, negative emotion words, death-related words and less positive emotion words). The present study aims to see whether the word use suggesting depression or suicidality has increased in the victims (r/domesticviolence) versus non-victims (r/changemyview) from pre-COVID19 to during COVID-19. 1669 and 2358 posts for the r/domesticviolence and r/changemyview respectively were analyzed using LIWC2015. The main effect of subreddit showed that victims used more first-person singular pronouns (Eta squared η²=.668) and negative emotion words (Eta squared η²=.167), both having a large effect. The control group used more positive emotion words and death-related words. Main effect of year showed an increase in the use of first-person singular pronouns in both victims and non-victims. There was no interaction effect between the year and the subreddits. These results indicate that COVID-19 didn’t contribute to the differences in depressive or suicidal word use between the two subreddits. However, COVID-19 had an effect in general for the increases in self-focus. Finally, overall the victims showed more word use related to depression or suicidality. Some limitations and future directions were considered in the end.Show less

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The Effect of COVID-19 on the Depressive and Suicidal Word Use in Victims of Domestic Violence