A Study on the Construction and Translation of the “Gap Year” on social media from the Perspective of Life Course Theory Based on a Comparative Analysis of Chinese and U.S. Data

Abstract

Based on the concept of “deinstitutionalization” in life course theory, this study seeks to reconstruct the representation and construction of the “gap year” concept on social media through data analysis of the Weibo and X (Twitter) platforms, to comparatively examine the action translation occurring in China, and to explore the deinstitutionalized implications embedded in the concept of the “gap year.” Using the PMI algorithm, a textual co-occurrence analysis is conducted on posts from the two platforms, and thematic clustering is performed through a modular community detection algorithm to present the themes and intensities of related discussions across different platforms. Sentiment analysis is carried out using the SnowNLP analysis model and the TextBlob text-processing library in Python, with sentiment statistics and visualization conducted by date and related themes. From three dimensions—negative, neutral, and positive—the patterns of emotional evolution across different actions are analyzed, revealing the practical forms and emotional trends of the “gap year” concept in China. The analysis shows that gap year practices presented by actors on social networks exhibit clear thematic and emotional differences, and that emotional changes across stages display a pronounced ripple effect. When linked to life course theory, the “gap year” concept undergoes a transformation in the process of translation—from active to passive, and from practices of self-exploration to strategies of returning to the educational system.