A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of Pro-Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Public Tumblr Posts Written in Spanish

Abstract

Rates of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), especially high among adolescents, are associated with comorbid disorders including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and eating disorders. Hispanic adolescents engage in NSSI at rates similar to or higher than their Caucasian counterparts, but little research exists on Spanish-language markers of mental health. This study, harnessing data from the social media platform Tumblr, collected pro-NSSI public blog posts written in Spanish and analyzed their content with Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. Pro-NSSI linguistic properties, psychological linguistic properties, and signature words were analyzed, and results revealed that, of pro-NSSI terms, reasons for NSSI was the most frequently used category in posts. This result aligns with the literature because words associated with negative emotions are commonly presented in the dominant language within trauma narratives. Evaluation of linguistic properties indicated that users could be code-switching to avoid encountering overwhelming emotions, a practice common among bilingual individuals. The psychological properties of these blog posts had an emphatically negative emotional tone when written in Spanish and a more concrete and less emotionally charged tone when users switched to English. This research suggests benefits to assessing bilingual clients for pro-NSSI and online-posting behaviors, while underscoring both the need for improved evidence-based practices for treating trauma in bilingual clients and, broadly speaking, the importance of Spanish and code-switching norms for blogs and social media platforms.