The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Natural Language Processing Insight into LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Content Analysis of Anxiety-Provoking Topics and Trends in Emotion in LGBTeens Microcommunity Subreddit
Published version of a preprint
Abstract
Background: Widespread fear surrounding COVID-19, coupled with physical and social distancing orders, has caused severe adverse mental health outcomes. Little is known, however, about how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted LGBTQ+ youth, who disproportionately experienced a high rate of adverse mental health outcomes before the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: We aimed to address this knowledge gap by harnessing natural language processing methodologies to investigate the evolution of conversation topics in the most popular subreddit for LGBTQ+ youth. Methods: We generated a data set of all r/LGBTeens subreddit posts (n=39,389) between January 1, 2020 and February 1, 2021 and analyzed meaningful trends in anxiety, anger, and sadness in the posts. Because the distribution of anxiety before widespread social distancing orders was meaningfully different from the distribution after (P<.001), we employed latent Dirichlet allocation to examine topics that provoked this shift in anxiety. Results: We did not find any differences in LGBTQ+ youth anger and sadness before and after government-mandated social distancing; however, anxiety increased significantly (P<.001). Further analysis revealed a list of 10 anxiety-provoking topics discussed during the pandemic: attraction to a friend, coming out, coming out to family, discrimination, education, exploring sexuality, gender pronouns, love and relationship advice, starting a new relationship, and struggling with mental health. Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, LGBTQ+ teens increased their reliance on anonymous discussion forums when discussing anxiety-provoking topics. LGBTQ+ teens likely perceived anonymous forums as safe spaces for discussing lifestyle stressors during COVID-19 disruptions (eg, school closures). The list of prevalent anxiety-provoking topics in LGBTQ+ teens’ anonymous discussions can inform future mental health interventions in LGBTQ+ youth.
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Stevens et al. (2021) found that anxiety increased significantly during periods of government-mandated social distancing among LGBTQ+ adolescents.
“Their analysis revealed that anxiety increased significantly during periods of government-mandated social distancing”
From Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies for LGBTQ+ youth: a narrative review (2026) · cites this paper as Stevens et al. (2021)
The observed increase in anxiety in Stevens et al. (2021) cannot be attributed to pandemic conditions alone because the study period coincided with widespread political unrest affecting LGBTQ+ populations and the sentiment analysis tool may overidentify emotional expression.
“The authors caution that the study period coincided with widespread political unrest affecting LGBTQ+ populations, and that the sentiment analysis tool they used may overidentify emotional expression, so the observed increase cannot be attributed to pandemic conditions alone.”
From Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies for LGBTQ+ youth: a narrative review (2026) · cites this paper as Stevens et al. (2021)
Stevens et al. (2021) found that online communities served as critical emotional support spaces during a period when offline support networks were suddenly unavailable.
“and that online communities served as critical emotional support spaces during a period when offline support networks were suddenly unavailable.”
From Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies for LGBTQ+ youth: a narrative review (2026) · cites this paper as Stevens et al. (2021)
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Citations
Cites
Uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety: an integrated neurobiological and psychological perspective
Grupe, D. W., & Nitschke, J. B. (2013) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3524 · Cited by 2,007
Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Youth
Russell, S. T., & Fish, J. N. (2016) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093153 · Cited by 1,276
Gallagher, M. W., Zvolensky, M. J., Long, L. J., Rogers, A. H., & Garey, L. (2020) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/s10608-020-10143-y · Cited by 262 · cited 1×
“For example, COVID-19 health threats and uncertainty may trigger feelings of anxiety [25-27].”
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Artificial intelligence and immersive technologies for LGBTQ+ youth: a narrative review
Shekarchi, R., Eleuteri, S., Saladino, V., Calaresi, D., Giordano, F., & Prunas, A. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.2002054
Metadata
- Authors
- Stevens, H. R., Acic, I., & Rhea, S.
- Venue
- JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2021-08-17
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- e29029
- ISSN
- 2369-2960
- PMC
- PMC8372845
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 3
- Language
- en
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