Abusers indoors and coronavirus outside: an examination of public discourse about COVID-19 and family violence on Twitter using machine learning

ABSTRACT

PurposeThis brief report aims to provide the first large-scale analysis of public discourse regarding family violence and the COVID-19 pandemic on Twitter. Method: We analyzed 301,606 Tweets related to family violence and COVID-19 from April 12 to July 16, 2020, for this study. We used the machine learning approach, Latent Dirichlet Allocation, and identified salient themes, topics, and representative Twitter examples. ResultsWe extracted nine themes on family violence and COVID-19 pandemic, including (1) the Impact of COVID-19 on family violence (e.g., rising rates, hotline calls increased, murder & homicide); (2) the types (e.g., child abuse, domestic violence, sexual violence) and (3) forms of family violence (e.g., physical aggression, coercive control); (4) risk factors of family violence (e.g., alcohol abuse, financial constraints, gun, quarantine); (5) victims of family violence (e.g., LGBTQ, women, and women of color, children); (6) social services of family violence (e.g., hotlines, social workers, confidential services, shelters, funding); (7) law enforcement response (e.g., 911 calls, police arrest, protective orders, abuse reports); (8) Social movement/awareness (e.g., support victims, raise awareness); and (9) domestic violence-related news (e.g., Tara Reade, Melissa Derosa). ConclusionsThe COVID-19 has an impact on family violence. This report overcomes the limitation of existing scholarship that lacks data for consequences of COVID-19 on family violence. We contribute to the understanding of family violence during the pandemic by providing surveillance in Tweets, which is essential to identify potentially effective policy programs in offering targeted support for victims and survivors and preparing for the next wave.