Cross-Cultural Differences in Mental Health Expressions on Social Media

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2402.11477v4
• Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2025 02:22:37 GMT
• Title: Cross-Cultural Differences in Mental Health Expressions on Social Media
• Authors: Sunny Rai, Khushi Shelat, Devansh R Jain, Kishen Sivabalan, Young Min Cho, Maitreyi Redkar, Samindara Sawant, Lyle H. Ungar, Sharath Chandra Guntuku,
• Abstract summary: Current understandings of mental health expressions on social media are derived from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) contexts. We examine mental health posts on Reddit made by individuals geolocated in India to identify variations in social media language specific to the Indian context.
• Score: 11.446351184195647
• License:
• Abstract: Culture moderates the way individuals perceive and express mental distress. Current understandings of mental health expressions on social media, however, are predominantly derived from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) contexts. To address this gap, we examine mental health posts on Reddit made by individuals geolocated in India, to identify variations in social media language specific to the Indian context compared to users from Western nations. Our experiments reveal significant psychosocial variations in emotions and temporal orientation. This study demonstrates the potential of social media platforms for identifying cross-cultural differences in mental health expressions (e.g. seeking advice in India vs seeking support by Western users). Significant linguistic variations in online mental health-related language emphasize the importance of developing precision-targeted interventions that are culturally appropriate.

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