The Language of Well-Being: A Linguistic Divide in Perceptions of “Peace of Mind”

• In Event: Joint Roundtables: Social Psychology Section and Sociology of Emotions Section
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 4 - Mental Health

Abstract

This study examines how different social groups describe “peace of mind” by using a large-scale textual analysis of survey responses. The research utilizes Structural Topic Modeling (STM) to identify couple latent topics and analyze how the prevalence varies based on the demographic information difference, such as gender, household income, and education level. The findings in the article indicates that the definitions of “peace of mind” is shaped by socioeconomic factors, which reflects respondents’ structural position in the society. People with higher household income are more likely to define “peace of mind” as emotional stability and work-life balance, while people from lower-income status emphasize security and relief from stress. This preliminary finding shows how well-being is socially stratified and embedded within population processes of inequalities. By integrating computational textual analysis with demographic theoretical frameworks, it enriches our comprehension of people’s well-being across social groups and population research on mental health and inequalities.

Authors

• Ruohong Dong, University of Arizona

• Jieun Shin, University of Florida