Media Exposure and Anxiety during COVID-19: The Mediation Effect of Media Vicarious Traumatization.

Publisher: MDPI Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 101238455 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1660-4601 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 16604601 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Int J Environ Res Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Basel : MDPI, c2004-

Anxiety/*epidemiology ; Coronavirus Infections/*epidemiology ; Coronavirus Infections/*psychology ; Mass Media/*supply & distribution ; Pneumonia, Viral/*epidemiology ; Pneumonia, Viral/*psychology ; Psychological Trauma/*epidemiology ; Social Media/*supply & distribution; Adolescent ; Adult ; Betacoronavirus ; COVID-19 ; Child ; Female ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pandemics ; SARS-CoV-2

The rapid spread and high death rates of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in massive panic and anxiety all over the world. People rely heavily on media for information-seeking during the period of social isolation. This study aimed to explore the relationship between media exposure and anxiety, and highlighted the underlying mechanisms mediated by the media vicarious traumatization effect. A total of 1118 Chinese citizens participated in the online survey, who were from 30 provinces in mainland China. Results showed that all four types of media (official media, commercial media, social media, and overseas media) cause vicarious traumatization to their audiences to different degrees. It was also found that the impact of media exposure on anxiety was mediated by media vicarious traumatization: there were full mediation effects for commercial media exposure and overseas media exposure, while there were indirect-only mediation effects for official media exposure and social media exposure. Audiences staying in cities with a relatively severe pandemic were more susceptible to the vicarious traumatization caused by commercial media compared to those staying in Hubei. This study expanded the concept and application of vicarious traumatization to the mediated context, and the findings provided insightful advice to media practitioners in the face of major crisis.

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17AXW002 International This research was funded by the Key Project of the National Social Science Fund of China: A cognitive-communication study of media's influence on the practice of judicial justice

Keywords: COVID-19; Wuhan; anxiety; commercial media; media exposure; media vicarious traumatization; official media

Date Created: 20200708 Date Completed: 20200728 Latest Revision: 20201218

20240628

PMC7370076

10.3390/ijerph17134720

32630054