Brain, Digital, & Learning

 Open access, Peer Reviewed

Indexed in KCI

pISSN 2384-2474
eISSN 2586-7490

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Behavioral Markers of Childhood Depression from a Neurodevelopmental Perspective: Linguistic Fragmentation and Hostile Projection in Chatbot Conversations

1AI and Robotics Education Convergence Institute, Cheongju National University of Education
2Cheongju National University of Education

Correspondence to Jaeyong Lee, educounsel@cje.ac.kr

Brain, Digital, & Learning. Volume 15, Number 4, 583–600, December 2025. https://doi.org/10.31216/BDL.2025.15.4.4
Received on November 27, 2025, Revised on December 19, 2025, Accepted on December 22, 2025, Published on December 31, 2025.
Copyright © 2025 Institute of Brain based Education, Korea National University of Education This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This study investigates linguistic patterns in elementary students’ chatbot conversations from a neurodevelopmental perspective. A total of 123 students interacted with an AI chatbot for two weeks. Using a dual-method strategy combining Latent Dirichlet Allocation and qualitative analysis, the study identified an exploratory three-stage behavioral spectrum corresponding to depression severity: (1) Situational Complaint & Playful Distraction (Mild), (2) Relational Ambivalence & Narrative Effort (Moderate), and (3) Structural Disintegration & Hostile Projection (Severe). As severity increased, patterns shifted from playful interaction to fragmented hostility, consistent with deficits in cognitive control and social pain processing. Although the study did not include direct physiological measurements, these linguistic behaviors can be interpreted within a neurodevelopmental perspective as conceptually relevant patterns. The findings suggest that chatbot dialogue serves as a meaningful process-based marker for tracking emotional shifts often missed by traditional screening, highlighting its potential for early risk detection in schools. Given the small moderate and severe subgroups, these findings remain exploratory but provide promising markers for future validation.
Keywords

Childhood depression, counseling chatbot, NLP, behavioral markers, neurodevelopmental perspective

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