Date of Award
8-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Social Sciences
Committee Chair/Advisor
Bryan Lee Miller
Committee Member
Matthew Costello
Committee Member
Natallia Sianko
Abstract
The United States has continuously faced an opioid epidemic that has resulted in a severe loss of human life. The coronavirus pandemic began in December 2019 and affected many aspects of daily life. One result of this pandemic was government financial aid in the form of stimulus checks that were directly deposited into peoples’ bank accounts. This study aims to understand better the impact stimulus checks had on opioid overdose rates within America by using content collected from Twitter to gauge public opinion. The sample consisted of a stratified random sample of 600 overall tweets that contained at least one relevant search keyword. Keywords were common drug terms. Content analysis was used to determine emerging themes within the tweets to better understand how people discussed opioids. Results showed that there was no discussion by Twitter users that involved stimulus checks in conjunction with opioids.
Recommended Citation
Seeman, Alyssa, "Opioid-Related Content on Twitter and the Impact of COVID-19 Government Stimulus Distribution" (2022). All Theses. 3865.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3865