5 research outputs found
Expression of psychological distress on Instagram using hashtags in Russian and English : a comparative analysis
People have been using images to express ideas, share stories, and communicate since early history. The advent of social
media has made sharing images an important part of everyday life. Among other things, social networks can be used to express
psychological distress; however, research on this topic is limited. The goal of this study was to explore representations of
psychological distress in the Russian-speaking segment of Instagram. The study involved contrasting images labeled with
hashtags in Russian with images marked by analogous Anglophone hashtags in a data set of 1,512 images. Quantitative content
analysis revealed significant differences between images labeled with Russian and Anglophone hashtags. Images containing
depictions of texts were significantly less frequent among images with Russian hashtags, while inanimate object depictions
were more prevalent. Hashtags for fear in both languages were related not to psychological distress but to the “scary” in
popular culture. Images of alcohol were associated with stress hashtags in both languages and with hashtag for depression in
Russian only. Images of food were significantly more prevalent among images with Russian hashtag for stress. Current study
highlights the need for culturally and linguistically appropriate online mental health interventions.peer-reviewe
The language of positive mental health : findings from a sample of Russian Facebook users
Positive mental health is considered to be a significant predictor of health and longevity; however, our understanding of the
ways in which this important characteristic is represented in users’ behavior on social networking sites is limited. The goal
of this study was to explore associations between positive mental health and language used in online communication in a
large sample of Russian Facebook users. The five-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) was used
as a self-report measure of well-being. Morphological, sentiment, and semantic analyses were performed for linguistic data.
The total of 6,724 participants completed the questionnaire and linguistic data were available for 1,972. Participants’ mean
age was 45.7 years (SD = 11.6 years); 73.4% were female. The dataset included 15,281 posts, with an average of 7.67 (SD =
5.69) posts per participant. Mean WHO-5 score was 60.0 (SD = 19.1), with female participants exhibiting lower scores. Use
of negative sentiment words and impersonal predicates (“should statements”) demonstrated an inverse association with the
WHO-5 scores. No significant correlation was found between the use of positive sentiment words and the WHO-5 scores.
This study expands current understanding of the association between positive mental health and language use in online
communication by employing data from a non-Western sample.peer-reviewe