Abstract
Abstract.Background: On the Internet, individuals can freely read about or talk to others about suicide. However, little is known about the nature of these online interactions and the potential impact on users. Aims: This study aimed to examine the characteristics of online comments following high-profile celebrity suicide, comparing top-rated comments with controversial comments. Method: Comments from a popular thread on Reddit made following the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain were examined using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count and qualitative content analysis. Results: Top-scoring comments were associated with a higher level of authenticity, a higher word count, and a greater focus on the past. These comments were characterized by personal stories of experiences with suicidality or knowing someone who had attempted/died by suicide. Limitations: Our small sample size was underpowered for the linguistic characteristic analyses, and differences in some characteristics may not have been identified. Conclusions: Despite concerns over the potential dangers of the Internet on suicide, it can serve as a place for individuals to share personal stories and obtain support from others.
References
2017). Prevalence of exposure to suicide: A meta-analysis of population-based studies. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 88, 113–120. 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2017.01.017
(2008). Fostering empowerment in online support groups. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 1867–1883. 10.1016/j.chb.2008.02.004
(2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62(1), 107–115. 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x
(2010). Regularization paths for generalized linear models via coordinate descent. Journal of Statistical Software, 33(1), 1–22.
(2015). Detecting changes in suicide content manifested in social media following celebrity suicides. Proceedings of the 26th ACM Conference on Hypertext & Social Media, 85–94. 10.1145/2700171.2791026
(2015). The development and psychometric properties of LIWC 2015. University of Texas at Austin
(2001). Linguistic inquiry and word count: LIWC 2001. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
(2001). Suicide and the media: Part I. Reportage in nonfictional media. Crisis, 22(4), 146–154. 10.1027//0227-5910.22.4.146
(2018). Reddit’s year in review – 2018. https://redditblog.com/2018/12/04/reddit-year-in-review-2018/
. (2010). The psychological meaning of words: LIWC and computerized text analysis methods. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 29(1), 24–54. 10.1177/0261927X09351676
(