@Article{info:doi/10.2196/63407,
author="Chen, Yidi
and Zheng, Lei
and Ma, Jinjin
and Zhu, Huanya
and Gan, Yiqun",
title="The Mediating Role of Meaning-Making in the Relationship Between Mental Time Travel and Positive Emotions in Stress-Related Blogs: Big Data Text Analysis Research",
journal="J Med Internet Res",
year="2025",
month="Feb",
day="21",
volume="27",
pages="e63407",
keywords="stress; meaning-making; mental time travel; big data; mini meta-analysis; text analysis; coping mechanisim; Weibo; post; web crawler; positive emotion; emotion; meta-analysis; anxiety; depression; mental health; ecological momentary assessment; EMA; stress model; natural language processing; NLP",
abstract="Background: Given the ubiquity of stress, a key focus of stress research is exploring how to better coexist with stress. Objective: This study conducted text analysis on stress-related Weibo posts using a web crawler to investigate whether these posts contained positive emotions, as well as elements of mental time travel and meaning-making. A mediation model of mental time travel, meaning-making, and positive emotions was constructed to examine whether meaning-making triggered by mental time travel can foster positive emotions under stress. Methods: Using Python 3.8, the original public data from active Weibo users were crawled, yielding 331,711 stress-related posts. To avoid false positives, these posts were randomly divided into two large samples for cross-validation (sample 1: n=165,374; sample 2: n=166,337). Google's natural language processing application programming interface was used for word segmentation, followed by text and mediation analysis using the Chinese psychological analysis system ``Wenxin.'' A mini--meta-analysis of the mediation path coefficients was conducted. Text analysis identified mental time travel words, meaning-making words, and positive emotion words in stress-related posts. Results: The constructed mediation model of mental time travel words (time words), meaning-making words (causal and insightful words), and positive poststress emotions validated positive adaptation following stress. A mini--meta-analysis of two different mediation models constructed in the two subsamples indicated a stable mediation effect across the 2 random subsamples. The combined effect size (B) obtained was .013 (SE 0.003, 95{\%} CI 0.007-0.018; P<.001), demonstrating that meaning-making triggered by mental time travel in stress-related blog posts can predict positive emotions under stress. Conclusions: Individuals can adapt positively to stress by engaging in meaning-making processes that are triggered by mental time travel and reflected in their social media posts. The study's mediation model confirmed that mental time travel leads to meaning-making, which fosters positive emotional responses to stress. Mental time travel serves as a psychological strategy to facilitate positive adaptation to stressful situations. ",
issn="1438-8871",
doi="10.2196/63407",
url="https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e63407",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/63407",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/39900590"
}