[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-84749-en":3,"doc-seo-84749-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},84749,137441390410,"Hazel","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2000252f4ab5702993?_k=1776741390130283984",8,"Research & Report","Characterizing the Temporal, Emotional, and Social Patterns of Adolescent Substance Use Discussions on Reddit","Adolescence is a high-risk developmental stage shaped by emotional sensitivity, social stress, and vulnerability to substance use. Traditional methods limit access to adolescents’ authentic, rapidly changing experiences, which hinders evidence-based prevention and intervention. Large-scale Reddit data offers naturally occurring adolescent discussions with precise timestamps. Analyzing posts from 2018–2023 using hour-by-hour temporal analysis, sentiment and emotion classification, and BERTopic reveals weekend and late-night peaks, predominantly negative emotions, and topics tied to peers, family conflict, emotional distress, and substance-specific experiences.","1  \nCharacterizing the Temporal, Emotional, and Social Patterns of Adolescent Substance Use Discussions on Reddit  \nLeran Hong 1, Lei Jin2, Jianfeng Zhu3  \n1 Shenzhen Chinese International College, Shenzhen, China  \n2 Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, Kent State University, Kent, OH USA  \n3 Departments of Computer 1, Kent State University, Kent, OH USA  \nAbstract  \nAdolescence is a critical developmental period marked by heightened emotional sensitivity, social stress, and vulnerability to substance use. However, traditional research methods provide limited access to adolescents' authentic experiences, hindering efforts to develop evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies. Social media provides a unique opportunity to observe adolescents’ naturally occurring discussions about substance use, offering valuable insights into their opinions, emotions, and lived experiences that can inform early prevention and intervention strategies.  \nIn this study, we analyze large-scale Reddit discussions related to substance use among adolescents between 2018 and 2023. Leveraging hour-by-day temporal analysis, sentiment and emotion classification, and transformer-based topic modeling (BERTopic), we examine the interaction between time, emotion, and semantic content in adolescent substance use discourse. Our findings reveal pronounced weekend and late-night peaks in substance-related discussions, a dominance of negative emotions such as sadness and fear, and distinct semantic topics centered on peer relationships, family conflict, emotional distress, and substance-specific experiences. These findings advance our understanding of adolescent substance use in naturalistic online settingsand provide empirical evidence to support the development of more timely, targeted and evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies.  \nKeywords: BERTopic; teenager; substance use; Reddit; temporal dynamics; semantic analysis; emotional analysis  \n2  \n1. Introduction  \nAdolescence is a critical developmental period during which substance use can have lasting consequences for mental health and psychosocial development [1]. Early initiation of substance use has been associated with an increased risk of mental health disorders, poorer educational and social functioning, and the later development of substance use disorders, highlighting the importance of early prevention and intervention [2] . Therefore, understanding the behavioral and emotional contexts surrounding adolescent substance use is essential for developing effective prevention and early intervention strategies.  \nTraditional approaches to studying adolescent substance use primarily rely on selfreport surveys, school-based assessments, interviews, or clinical records. Although these methods provide valuable evidence, they are inherently retrospective and episodic, limiting their ability to capture adolescents’ rapidly changing emotional experiences and behavioral patterns over time [3] . Adolescents may also underreport substance use because of stigma, privacy concerns, fear of punishment, or social desirability, further restricting access to authentic experience [4] . Consequently, traditional methods provide only limited insight into when adolescents experience heightened vulnerability, how they emotionally respond to substance-related experiences, and the social contexts in which these experiences occur.  \nSocial media offers a complementary source of behavioral evidence by capturing adolescents’ spontaneous expressions of emotions, experiences, and social interactions in naturalistic setting [5] . Online communities allow adolescents to discuss sensitive issues, seek peer support, and share personal experience in relatively anonymous environments [6] . Unlike structured questionnaires, these expressions are spontaneous and often emotionally rich. Importantly, social media data include precise timestamps, enabling fine-grained temporal analyses [7] that can rev","cbCaisF8WEnhBqvg","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisF8WEnhBqvg","pdf",1669516,2,1,18,"English","en",105,"# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Adolescent substance use and consequences\n## Limitations of traditional research\n## Value of social media evidence\n## Prior work and remaining gaps\n# Study approach and research questions","[{\"question\":\"Why is it important to study the emotional and social context of adolescent substance use?\",\"answer\":\"Adolescent substance use can have lasting effects on mental health and psychosocial development, and early initiation increases the risk of later disorders. Understanding behavioral and emotional contexts supports more effective prevention and early intervention.\"},{\"question\":\"What makes social media data, especially Reddit, useful for this research?\",\"answer\":\"Reddit enables analysis of spontaneous discussions in relatively anonymous environments and includes precise timestamps. This supports fine-grained temporal analysis of how emotions and topics vary over daily and weekly rhythms.\"},{\"question\":\"What patterns did the study find in Reddit discussions between 2018 and 2023?\",\"answer\":\"Discussions show pronounced weekend and late-night peaks, with dominance of negative emotions such as sadness and fear. Semantic topics center on peer relationships, family conflict, emotional distress, and substance-specific experiences.\"}]",1784198019,45,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"characterizing-the-temporal-emotional-and-social-patterns-of-adolescent-substance-use-discussions-on-reddit","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/characterizing-the-temporal-emotional-and-social-patterns-of-adolescent-substance-use-discussions-on-reddit/84749/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-21","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"Why is it important to study the emotional and social context of adolescent substance use?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Adolescent substance use can have lasting effects on mental health and psychosocial development, and early initiation increases the risk of later disorders. Understanding behavioral and emotional contexts supports more effective prevention and early intervention.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"What makes social media data, especially Reddit, useful for this research?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"Reddit enables analysis of spontaneous discussions in relatively anonymous environments and includes precise timestamps. This supports fine-grained temporal analysis of how emotions and topics vary over daily and weekly rhythms.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What patterns did the study find in Reddit discussions between 2018 and 2023?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"Discussions show pronounced weekend and late-night peaks, with dominance of negative emotions such as sadness and fear. Semantic topics center on peer relationships, family conflict, emotional distress, and substance-specific experiences.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]