Mental Health–Related Behaviors and Discussions Among Young Adults: Analysis and Classification

Background There have been recurring reports of web-based harassment and abuse among adolescents and young adults through anonymous social networks. Objective This study aimed to explore discussions on the popular anonymous social network Yik Yak related to social and mental health messaging behaviors among college students, including cyberbullying, to provide insights into mental health behaviors on college campuses. Methods From April 6, 2016, to May 7, 2016, we collected anonymous conversations posted on Yik Yak at 19 universities in 4 different states and performed statistical analyses and text classification experiments on a subset of these messages. Results We found that prosocial messages were 5.23 times more prevalent than bullying messages. The frequency of cyberbullying messages was positively associated with messages seeking emotional help. We found significant geographic variation in the frequency of messages offering supportive vs bullying messages. Across campuses, bullying and political discussions were positively associated. We also achieved a balanced accuracy of over 0.75 for most messaging behaviors and topics with a support vector machine classifier. Conclusions Our results show that messages containing data about students’ mental health–related attitudes and behaviors are prevalent on anonymous social networks, suggesting that these data can be mined for real-time analysis. This information can be used in education and health care services to better engage with students, provide insight into conversations that lead to cyberbullying, and reach out to students who need support.

Mental Health–Related Behaviors and Discussions Among Young Adults: Analysis and Classification (Preprint)

BACKGROUND There have been recurring reports of web-based harassment and abuse among adolescents and young adults through anonymous social networks. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to explore discussions on the popular anonymous social network Yik Yak related to social and mental health messaging behaviors among college students, including cyberbullying, to provide insights into mental health behaviors on college campuses. METHODS From April 6, 2016, to May 7, 2016, we collected anonymous conversations posted on Yik Yak at 19 universities in 4 different states and performed statistical analyses and text classification experiments on a subset of these messages. RESULTS We found that prosocial messages were 5.23 times more prevalent than bullying messages. The frequency of cyberbullying messages was positively associated with messages seeking emotional help. We found significant geographic variation in the frequency of messages offering supportive vs bullying messages. Across campuses, bullying and political discussions were positively associated. We also achieved a balanced accuracy of over 0.75 for most messaging behaviors and topics with a support vector machine classifier. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that messages containing data about students’ mental health–related attitudes and behaviors are prevalent on anonymous social networks, suggesting that these data can be mined for real-time analysis. This information can be used in education and health care services to better engage with students, provide insight into conversations that lead to cyberbullying, and reach out to students who need support.

Undisciplined Performativity: A Sociological Approach to Anonymity

Anonymous social media platforms comprise sprawling publics where users, untethered from their legal identity, interact with other anonymous users to share and read user-generated content. The emergence of mobile applications that promise anonymity as a primary feature has led to novel social configurations that have so far been understudied. This article is an empirical and theoretical attempt to understand the ways in which anonymous social media have altered the social through performative, digital acts mediated through a community of anonymous users. I do this through two main propositions: first, that practices of anonymity mediated through a social media platform comprise discrete performative acts of identity due to a process of dissociability, and second, that those dissociated performative acts become undisciplined. To address these propositions, I have drawn from 12 semi-structured interviews of undergraduate and graduate students at Queen’s University who were avid users of Yik Yak to explore the sociology of anonymity, surveillance, and identity. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of performativity and discipline that have been commonly deployed in media and surveillance studies.

Perceived Attitudes About Substance Use in Anonymous Social Media Posts Near College Campuses: Observational Study

Background Substance use is a major issue for adolescents and young adults, particularly college students. With the importance of peer influence and the ubiquitous use of social media among these age groups, it is important to assess what is discussed on various social media sites regarding substance use. One particular mobile app (Yik Yak) allowed users to post any message anonymously to nearby persons, often in areas with close proximity to major colleges and universities. Objective This study describes the content, including attitude toward substances, of social media discussions that occurred near college campuses and involved substances. Methods A total of 493 posts about drugs and alcohol on Yik Yak were reviewed and coded for their content, as well as the poster’s attitude toward the substance(s) mentioned. Results Alcohol (226/493, 45.8%), marijuana (206/493, 41.8%), and tobacco (67/493, 13%) were the most frequently mentioned substances. Posts about use (442/493) were generally positive toward the substance mentioned (262/442, 59.3%), unless the post was about abstinence from the substance. Additionally, posts that commented on the substance use of others tended to be less positive (18/92, 19.6% positive) compared to posts about one’s own use (132/202, 65.3% positive). Conclusions This study provides a description of anonymous discussions on or near college campuses about drugs and alcohol, which serves as an example of data that can be examined from social media sites for further research and prevention campaigns.

Perceived Attitudes About Substance Use in Anonymous Social Media Posts Near College Campuses: Observational Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Substance use is a major issue for adolescents and young adults, particularly college students. With the importance of peer influence and the ubiquitous use of social media among these age groups, it is important to assess what is discussed on various social media sites regarding substance use. One particular mobile app (Yik Yak) allowed users to post any message anonymously to nearby persons, often in areas with close proximity to major colleges and universities. OBJECTIVE This study describes the content, including attitude toward substances, of social media discussions that occurred near college campuses and involved substances. METHODS A total of 493 posts about drugs and alcohol on Yik Yak were reviewed and coded for their content, as well as the poster’s attitude toward the substance(s) mentioned. RESULTS Alcohol (226/493, 45.8%), marijuana (206/493, 41.8%), and tobacco (67/493, 13%) were the most frequently mentioned substances. Posts about use (442/493) were generally positive toward the substance mentioned (262/442, 59.3%), unless the post was about abstinence from the substance. Additionally, posts that commented on the substance use of others tended to be less positive (18/92, 19.6% positive) compared to posts about one’s own use (132/202, 65.3% positive). CONCLUSIONS This study provides a description of anonymous discussions on or near college campuses about drugs and alcohol, which serves as an example of data that can be examined from social media sites for further research and prevention campaigns.