Characterizing Experiences With Hikikomori Syndrome on Twitter Among Japanese-Language Users: Qualitative Infodemiology Content Analysis.

IF 3.5 Q1 HEALTH CARE SCIENCES & SERVICES
JMIR infodemiology Pub Date : 2025-02-24 DOI:10.2196/65610
Misa Ashley Uchiyama, Hirofumi Bekki, Tiana McMann, Zhuoran Li, Tim Mackey
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Hikikomori syndrome is a form of severe social withdrawal prevalent in Japan but is also a worldwide psychiatric issue. Twitter (subsequently rebranded X) offers valuable insights into personal experiences with mental health conditions, particularly among isolated individuals or hard-to-reach populations.

Objective: This study aimed to examine trends in firsthand and secondhand experiences reported on Twitter between 2021 and 2023 in the Japanese language.

Methods: Tweets were collected using the Twitter academic research application programming interface filtered for the following keywords: "#きこもり," "#ひきこもり," "#hikikomori," "#ニート," "#ひきこもり," "#," and "#." The Bidirectional Encoder Representations From Transformers language model was used to analyze all Japanese-language posts collected. Themes and subthemes were then inductively coded for in-depth exploration of topic clusters relevant to first- and secondhand experiences with hikikomori syndrome.

Results: We collected 2,018,822 tweets, which were narrowed down to 379,265 (18.79%) tweets in Japanese from January 2021 to January 2023. After examining the topic clusters output by the Bidirectional Encoder Representations From Transformers model, 4 topics were determined to be relevant to the study aims. A total of 400 of the most highly interacted with tweets from these topic clusters were manually annotated for inclusion and exclusion, of which 148 (37%) tweets from 89 unique users were identified as relevant to hikikomori experiences. Of these 148 relevant tweets, 71 (48%) were identified as firsthand accounts, and 77 (52%) were identified as secondhand accounts. Within firsthand reports, the themes identified included seeking social support, personal anecdotes, debunking misconceptions, and emotional ranting. Within secondhand reports, themes included seeking social support, personal anecdotes, seeking and giving advice, and advocacy against the negative stigma of hikikomori.

Conclusions: This study provides new insights into experiences reported by web-based users regarding hikikomori syndrome specific to Japanese-speaking populations. Although not yet found in diagnostic manuals classifying mental disorders, the rise of web-based lifestyles as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the importance of discussions regarding hikikomori syndrome in web-based spaces. The results indicate that social media platforms may represent a web-based space for those experiencing hikikomori syndrome to engage in social interaction, advocacy against stigmatization, and participation in a community that can be maintained through a web-based barrier and minimized sense of social anxiety.

日语用户在Twitter上的“隐蔽青年综合征”经历特征:定性信息流行病学内容分析。
背景:隐蔽青年综合征是一种严重的社会退缩症,在日本普遍存在,但也是一个世界性的精神病学问题。Twitter(后来更名为X)提供了有关心理健康状况个人经历的宝贵见解,尤其是在孤立的个人或难以接触的人群中。目的:本研究旨在研究2021年至2023年间Twitter上用日语报道的第一手和二手经历的趋势。方法:使用Twitter学术研究应用程序编程接口收集推文,过滤以下关键词:“#”,“#”,“#hikikomori”,“#”,“#”,“#”,“#”和“#”。使用变形金刚语言模型的双向编码器表示来分析收集到的所有日语帖子。然后对主题和副主题进行归纳编码,以深入探索与隐蔽青年综合征的第一手和二手经验相关的主题集群。结果:我们收集了2,018,822条推文,其中从2021年1月到2023年1月,日语推文的范围缩小到379,265条(18.79%)。在检查了变形金刚模型的双向编码器表示输出的主题聚类后,确定了4个与研究目标相关的主题。来自这些主题集群的400条互动程度最高的推文被手工标注为包含和排除,其中来自89个独立用户的148条(37%)推文被确定为与“隐蔽青年”体验相关。在这148条相关推文中,71条(48%)被确定为第一手账户,77条(52%)被确定为二手账户。在第一手报告中,确定的主题包括寻求社会支持、个人轶事、揭穿误解和情绪咆哮。在二手报告中,主题包括寻求社会支持,个人轶事,寻求和提供建议,以及反对“隐蔽青年”的负面污名。结论:这项研究为网络用户报告的关于日语人群特有的隐蔽青年综合征的经历提供了新的见解。虽然尚未在精神障碍分类的诊断手册中找到,但由于COVID-19大流行,网络生活方式的兴起增加了在网络空间中讨论“隐蔽青年综合征”的重要性。结果表明,社交媒体平台可能代表了一个基于网络的空间,让那些经历过“隐蔽青年”综合征的人从事社会互动,倡导反对污名化,并参与一个可以通过网络障碍和最小化社交焦虑来维持的社区。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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CiteScore
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