Citation

Li S, Xue J, Liu X, Wu P, Liu T, Zhu M, Zhao N, Zhu T. Crisis 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, International Association for Suicide Prevention, Publisher Hogrefe Publishing)

DOI

10.1027/0227-5910/a000782

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threatens people's physical and mental health, globally, and it may even trigger suicide ideation and suicidal behavior. Aims: We aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 on suicide risk by sampling Chinese Weibo users and analyzing their social media messages.

METHOD: We predicted the probability of suicide (including hopelessness, suicidal ideation, negative self-evaluation, and hostility) of Weibo users in order to assess the changes in suicide probability at different times. Repeated-measures ANOVA was performed to examine the differences in suicide probability in different regions during different periods.

RESULTS: There was no significant difference in suicide probability between profoundly infected areas (PIAs) and less infected areas (LIAs) before the outbreak of COVID-19. LIAs had an increase in hopelessness during the COVID-19 growth period, while hopelessness and hostility in PIA increased during the COVID-19 decline period, indicating potential suicide probability. Limitations: Results should be interpreted with caution, and cross-cultural research may be considered in the future.

CONCLUSION: COVID-19 has a dynamic impact on suicide probability. Using data from online social networks may help to understand the impact pattern of COVID-19 on people's suicide probability.

Language: en

Keywords

COVID-19; suicide prevention; online ecological recognition; online social networks; public health emergencies; suicide probability; Weibo