Research on the Spatiotemporal Evolution of the Patterns of Expressed Inferiority in Different Groups of Occupations and Education Stages

Abstract

Inferiority is a complex emotion of helplessness and self-deprecation. A lack of timely and effective treatment may cause serious consequences to people who experience inferiority. People with different occupational and educational backgrounds display different patterns of inferiority. Due to privacy issues, individuals who experience inferiority are often reluctant to seek face-to-face help. However, they often spontaneously share their feelings on social media, so social media can provide a large number of data on inferiority. Based on the data from Sina Weibo, the largest social media in China, this study explores the groups that are most affected by inferiority and reveals the spatiotemporal patterns of inferiority groups with different occupational and educational backgrounds based on the data from Sina Weibo, the largest social media in China. In this study, the Weibo data on inferiority-related topics published in 288 Chinese cities from 2012 to 2017 were collected, and the geospatial locations of the posts were extracted. The spatial variation of inferiority was analyzed, and the influence of the inferiority of people in different occupations and at education stages was examined. The results show that science and technology personnel, college students, and manufacturing workers are the groups most strongly affected by inferiority, and the expressed inferiority in the three groups show significant spatiotemporal non-stationarity. Excessive evaluation pressure increases the rate of inferiority among researchers and technicians, and inferiority among college students is increasing every year. In most areas in China, the increase in the density of manufacturing employees increases the risk of inferiority among these individuals. The findings of this study can help relevant organizations to better understand the regional distribution of inferiority and provide references for these organizations to develop regional treatment interventions for inferiority.