Emptiness has become a serious public health problem and is closely linked to suicidal behavior. Existential emptiness may be an emerging mental health challenge faced by contemporary young people due to social factors such as involution.

To explore the psychological state of young people's existential emptiness and their coping behaviors in new media suicide notes by using artificial intelligence-assisted content analysis.

By data mining suicide notes reported in new media (WeChat, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu) from January, 2013 to December, 2023, 31 suicide notes from young individuals aged≤24 were included. The analysis of the collected texts of suicide notes was conducted using the DiVoMiner® text big data mining and analysis platform. A method of machine-assisted manual coding is employed to construct the category system, and the reliability among coders is evaluated using the Holsti formula, with the Holsti coefficient serving as the reliability of the category system. Semantic network analysis and correlation analysis were used to conduct an in-depth analysis of the vocabulary and themes of the contents of the suicide notes.

This study identified 35 secondary categories through keyword coding, further refined into 5 primary categories, with intercoder reliability ranging from Holsti's coefficient 0.85 to 0.93, and a composite reliability of 0.90 for the category system. The semantic network analysis revealed complex structural relationships among the text contents. The results showed that keywords such as "father" "mother" "hope" "life" and "world" ppeared with high frequency and occupied central positions in the network. Correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between psychological distress and a lack of sense of meaning in life (r_s=0.540), a lack of identity and sense of belonging (r_s=0.420), and negative coping behaviors (r_s=0.505). Additionally, a lack of meaning in life was positively correlated with important social relationship breakdowns (r_s=0.384) and negative coping behaviors (r_s=0.531) (P<0.05).

The main manifestations of existential emptiness in the context of youth suicide include deep disturbances about the meaning of life, complex emotions such as despair generated in the process of pursuing the meaning of life, contradictory feelings about the meaning of life and intimate relationships, and a strong desire for social connection. Young people often adopt negative methods such as self-disguise, alienation from others, self-harm, and suicide. The findings underscore the critical need for targeted, empathetic suicide prevention strategies that address the core psychosocial dilemmas and unmet needs of suicidal youth, including early identification of existential emptiness, strengthening social connections especially those with fathers, and facilitating meaning-making.