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Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>Loneliness has been shown to affect both mental and physical health, and was a major concern even before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 distancing measures, millions of people took to social media to express their feelings and seek social support.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>In this mixed-methods study, we examine the self-disclosure of loneliness by users identifying as male or female (via self-disclosed naming conventions) on Twitter before and during the COVID-19 \u201clockdowns.\u201d<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>We show that in the first two months of COVID-19 restrictions, self-disclosure of loneliness on this platform rose dramatically, and also have changed qualitatively. We find that female accounts tend to post more loneliness self-disclosures compared to male ones, even before COVID. Female disclosures more often center around pregnancy, family, and close relationships, whereas those posted by the male ones are more related to leadership, video gaming and sex. During COVID lockdowns, female accounts turn to online messaging apps and hobbies, and male become increasingly vocal in seeking partners.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The insights of this study have important implications for the design of interventions for lessening the burden of loneliness in the current digitized world.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fdgth.2023.1297983","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,6]],"date-time":"2023-12-06T08:37:41Z","timestamp":1701851861000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Gender in the disclosure of loneliness on Twitter during COVID-19 lockdowns"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Yelena","family":"Mejova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Anya","family":"Hommadova Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj-2021-068302","article-title":"Effectiveness of public health measures in reducing the incidence of COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and COVID-19 mortality: systematic review, meta-analysis","volume":"375","author":"Talic","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"757","DOI":"10.1111\/bjc.12360","article-title":"Investigating the prevalence of anxiety, depression during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the united kingdom: systematic review, meta-analyses","volume":"61","author":"Dettmann","year":"2022","journal-title":"Br J Clin Psychol"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"624","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2020.10.061","article-title":"Self-reported changes in anxiety, depression and suicidality during the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece","volume":"279","author":"Fountoulakis","year":"2021","journal-title":"J Affect Disord"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"791","DOI":"10.1136\/archdischild-2020-320372","article-title":"Longitudinal increases in childhood depression symptoms during the COVID-19 lockdown","volume":"106","author":"Bignardi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Arch Dis Child"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"42","DOI":"10.1007\/s10597-020-00664-x","article-title":"Depression, anxiety and stress among Indians in times of COVID-19 lockdown","volume":"57","author":"Rehman","year":"2021","journal-title":"Community Ment Health J"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1016\/j.puhe.2020.06.036","article-title":"Who is lonely in lockdown? 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