Cited by 1,835COVID-19 and Mental HealthMental Health via WritingSentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining

The Impact of COVID-19 Epidemic Declaration on Psychological Consequences: A Study on Active Weibo Users

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Li, Sijia, Wang, Yilin, Xue, Jia, Zhao, Nan, Zhu, Tingshao·2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Abstract

COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) has significantly resulted in a large number of psychological consequences. The aim of this study is to explore the impacts of COVID-19 on people’s mental health, to assist policy makers to develop actionable policies, and help clinical practitioners (e.g., social workers, psychiatrists, and psychologists) provide timely services to affected populations. We sample and analyze the Weibo posts from 17,865 active Weibo users using the approach of Online Ecological Recognition (OER) based on several machine-learning predictive models. We calculated word frequency, scores of emotional indicators (e.g., anxiety, depression, indignation, and Oxford happiness) and cognitive indicators (e.g., social risk judgment and life satisfaction) from the collected data. The sentiment analysis and the paired sample t-test were performed to examine the differences in the same group before and after the declaration of COVID-19 on 20 January, 2020. The results showed that negative emotions (e.g., anxiety, depression and indignation) and sensitivity to social risks increased, while the scores of positive emotions (e.g., Oxford happiness) and life satisfaction decreased. People were concerned more about their health and family, while less about leisure and friends. The results contribute to the knowledge gaps of short-term individual changes in psychological conditions after the outbreak. It may provide references for policy makers to plan and fight against COVID-19 effectively by improving stability of popular feelings and urgently prepare clinical practitioners to deliver corresponding therapy foundations for the risk groups and affected people.

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  • In a study of 17,865 active Chinese Weibo users, word frequencies indicated that individuals shifted toward adaptation to a subsistence ecology after the Chinese declaration of COVID-19 outbreak; users showed more concern with death and more interest in religion.

    “One particularly relevant study analyzed the language used by 17,865 active Chinese users on Weibo, one of the biggest Chinese social media platforms, before and after the Chinese declaration of outbreak of COVID‐19, in order to assess several psychological metrics (Li, Wang, Xue, Zhao, & Zhu, 2020). In line with our hypotheses, their results indicate that, based on word frequencies, individuals s”

    From <scp>COVID</scp> ‐19 shifts mortality salience, activities, and values in the United States: Big data analysis of online adaptation (2021) · cites this paper as Li, Wang, Xue, Zhao, & Zhu, 2020

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  • Similar studies conducted with healthy participants reported female gender as being significantly associated with higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and more negative psychological effects of COVID-19.

    “Similar studies conducted with healthy participants reported female gender as being significantly associated with higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and more negative psychological effects of COVID-19 as well [43].”

    From The Psychosocial Impact of COVID-19 on Older Adults with Cancer: A Rapid Review (2022) · cites this paper as [43]

    Results §3.3 reports significant increases in anxiety and depression among active Weibo users after the COVID-19 declaration. The reported comparison is before versus after the declaration, not female versus male; the paper does not establish that female gender was associated with those outcomes or with higher stress. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  1. [6]Schaller M. Parasites, behavioral defenses, and the social psychological mechanisms through which cultures are evoked Psychol. Inq. 2006 17 96 101 10.2307/20447307 · DOI

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Authors
Li, S., Wang, Y., Xue, J., Zhao, N., & Zhu, T.
Affiliations
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
Corresponding author
  • Zhao, Nan
  • Zhu, Tingshao
Venue
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2020-03-19
Volume
17
Issue
6
Pages
2032
ISSN
1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3011642264
Cited by
1,835
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 113 · 2023: 247 · 2022: 440 · 2021: 586 · 2020: 370 · 2019: 1
FWCI
163.46
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Institutional Repository of Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences) (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Informationszentrum Lebenswissenschaften (ZB MED) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700984)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, mental health, psychological impact, Weibo, social media posts, sentiment analysis, anxiety, depression, indignation, happiness, life satisfaction, social risk perception
MeSH terms
Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, China, Depression, Disease Outbreaks, Emotions, Female, Happiness, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Personal Satisfaction, Pneumonia, Viral, Risk Factors, Coronavirus Infections, Internet, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Resilience, Psychological, Epidemics, Pandemics

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