Analyzing text message linguistic features: Do people with depression communicate differently with their close and non-close contacts?

ABSTRACT:

Background

Relatively little is known about how communication changes as a function of depression severity and interpersonal closeness. We examined the linguistic features of outgoing text messages among individuals with depression and their close- and non-close contacts.

Methods

419 participants were included in this 16-week-long observational study. Participants regularly completed the PHQ-8 and rated subjective closeness to their contacts. Text messages were processed to count frequencies of word usage in the LIWC 2015 libraries. A linear mixed modeling approach was used to estimate linguistic feature scores of outgoing text messages.

Results

Regardless of closeness, people with higher PHQ-8 scores tended to use more differentiation words. When texting with close c

SUBMITTER: Meyerhoff J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10330918 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature