Create Solidarity Networks: Dialogs in Reddit to Overcome Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Males

Abstract

The emerging scientific literature examines masculinity and gender roles as risk factors for suicide ideation or suicide in young adults and adolescents. In this vein, recent studies show that certain traditional masculine norms are related to poorer mental health-related outcomes, which influences suicide and suicide ideation. This study contributes with new understandings about the associations between masculinity and suicidal ideation among males through Reddit debates in English. The posts with more interactions referring to masculinity in the topics gender and education have been selected on Reddit, emphasizing transformative personal experiences potentially helping avoid suicide ideation. Through the analysis of Reddit posts, it is shown how users can generate spaces to express the diverse ways to live with masculinity. The discussions on Reddit in the different areas selected demonstrate the existence of proposals on how to overcome fears and facilitate relaxation of norms regarding self-reliance to encourage help-seeking when feeling depressed and therefore at greater risk of suicide ideation. The results highlight the potential importance of platforms such as Reddit to create solidarity networks, showing multiple ways of being a man and demystifying dominant masculinity by sharing different experiences.

Characteristics of Intimate Partner Violence and Survivor’s Needs During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights From Subreddits Related to Intimate Partner Violence

“…The data size of the previous studies ranged from 50 to over 600 when they conducted the qualitative analysis. The average number of the analyzed OPs from the previous studies we reviewed was approximately 300: 50 ( Lyons & Brewer, 2022 ), 190 ( Thomas et al, 2019 ), 200 ( Graves et al, 2022 ), 259 ( Kepner et al, 2022 ), 300 ( Arshonsky et al, 2022 ), 305 ( Nutley et al, 2021 ), 470 ( Redondo-Sama et al, 2021 ), and 613 ( Wu et al, 2022 ). The OPs were downloaded into Microsoft Excel and Word files for data annotation.…”

“…In addition, 17% of Black and 14% of Hispanic adults (17% of White adults) reported having ever used Reddit ( Pew Research Center, 2021 ). Reddit allows users to remain completely anonymous, cultivating rich discussions about sensitive health-related topics like drug use and addiction ( Arshonsky et al, 2022 ; Graves et al, 2022 ), anxiety ( Low et al, 2020 ), eating disorder ( Nutley et al, 2021 ), vaping ( Wu et al, 2022 ), and suicidal ideation ( Redondo-Sama et al, 2021 ). Presumably, such anonymity attracts many IPV survivors to Reddit, who wish to share their experiences, ask questions, and exchange information with other survivors covertly.…”

“…The size of the analyzed data greatly varied depending on the study’s purpose and method. For instance, studies using NLP and machine learning used hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Reddit posts, whereas qualitative studies used as small as 50 ( Lyons & Brewer, 2022 ) up to hundreds of Reddit posts for in-depth analysis ( Kepner et al, 2022 ; Nutley et al, 2021 ; Redondo-Sama et al, 2021 ; Wu et al, 2022 ).…”