Intergroup Contact, COVID-19 News Consumption, and the Moderating Role of Digital Media Trust on Prejudice Toward Asians in the United States: Cross-Sectional Study.

Publisher: JMIR Publications Country of Publication: Canada NLM ID: 100959882 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1438-8871 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14388871 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Med Internet Res Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2011- > : Toronto : JMIR Publications
Original Publication: [Pittsburgh, PA? : s.n., 1999-

Asian* ; Attitude* ; Interpersonal Relations* ; Trust*; Coronavirus Infections/*psychology ; Mass Media/*statistics & numerical data ; Pneumonia, Viral/*psychology ; Racism/*statistics & numerical data ; Social Media/*statistics & numerical data; Adult ; COVID-19 ; Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology ; Racism/psychology ; United States/epidemiology

Background: The perceived threat of a contagious virus may lead people to be distrustful of immigrants and out-groups. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the salient politicized discourses of blaming Chinese people for spreading the virus have fueled over 2000 reports of anti-Asian racial incidents and hate crimes in the United States.
Objective: The study aims to investigate the relationships between news consumption, trust, intergroup contact, and prejudicial attitudes toward Asians and Asian Americans residing in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compare how traditional news, social media use, and biased news exposure cultivate racial attitudes, and the moderating role of media use and trust on prejudice against Asians is examined.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was completed in May 2020. A total of 430 US adults (mean age 36.75, SD 11.49 years; n=258, 60% male) participated in an online survey through Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. Respondents answered questions related to traditional news exposure, social media use, perceived trust, and their top three news channels for staying informed about the novel coronavirus. In addition, intergroup contact and racial attitudes toward Asians were assessed. We performed hierarchical regression analyses to test the associations. Moderation effects were estimated using simple slopes testing with a 95% bootstrap confidence interval approach.
Results: Participants who identified as conservatives (β=.08, P=.02), had a personal infection history (β=.10, P=.004), and interacted with Asian people frequently in their daily lives (β=.46, P<.001) reported more negative attitudes toward Asians after controlling for sociodemographic variables. Relying more on traditional news media (β=.08, P=.04) and higher levels of trust in social media (β=.13, P=.007) were positively associated with prejudice against Asians. In contrast, consuming news from left-leaning outlets (β=-.15, P=.001) and neutral outlets (β=-.13, P=.003) was linked to less prejudicial attitudes toward Asians. Among those who had high trust in social media, exposure had a negative relationship with prejudice. At high levels of trust in digital websites and apps, frequent use was related to less unfavorable attitudes toward Asians.
Conclusions: Experiencing racial prejudice among the Asian population during a challenging pandemic can cause poor psychological outcomes and exacerbate health disparities. The results suggest that conservative ideology, personal infection history, frequency of intergroup contact, traditional news exposure, and trust in social media emerge as positive predictors of prejudice against Asians and Asian Americans, whereas people who get COVID-19 news from left-leaning and balanced outlets show less prejudice. For those who have more trust in social media and digital news, frequent use of these two sources is associated with lower levels of prejudice. Our findings highlight the need to reshape traditional news discourses and use social media and mobile news apps to develop credible messages for combating racial prejudice against Asians.
(©Jiun-Yi Tsai, Joe Phua, Shuya Pan, Chia-Chen Yang. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 25.09.2020.)

Sci Commun. 2020 Oct;42(5):679-697. (PMID: 38602988)
J Health Polit Policy Law. 2020 Dec 1;45(6):967-981. (PMID: 32464658)
Health Psychol. 2020 May;39(5):355-357. (PMID: 32202824)
Multivariate Behav Res. 2017 Jul-Aug;52(4):445-464. (PMID: 28463014)
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2011 Dec 12;366(1583):3418-26. (PMID: 22042918)
J Med Internet Res. 2020 May 6;22(5):e19301. (PMID: 32343669)
Behav Res Methods. 2016 Mar;48(1):400-7. (PMID: 25761395)
Psychol Sci. 2016 Jul;27(7):935-44. (PMID: 27207872)
Front Psychol. 2020 Jun 16;11:1392. (PMID: 32612565)
Int J Public Health. 2020 Jul;65(6):747-754. (PMID: 32728852)
Public Health. 2020 Jun;183:65-66. (PMID: 32438213)
Multivariate Behav Res. 2007 Jan-Mar;42(1):185-227. (PMID: 26821081)
Psychol Sci. 2011 Dec;22(12):1550-6. (PMID: 22058107)
Behav Res Methods. 2009 Nov;41(4):1149-60. (PMID: 19897823)
Int J Psychol. 2017 Aug;52(4):308-315. (PMID: 26511584)
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2006 May;90(5):751-83. (PMID: 16737372)
Soc Justice Res. 2008 Sep;21(3):263-396. (PMID: 24052687)
EClinicalMedicine. 2020 May 03;23:100372. (PMID: 32368725)
J Med Internet Res. 2020 Apr 21;22(4):e19016. (PMID: 32287039)
Soc Sci Med. 2007 Sep;65(6):1284-95. (PMID: 17544189)
Psychol Sci. 2010 Mar;21(3):440-7. (PMID: 20424082)
Risk Anal. 2016 Oct;36(10):2000-2010. (PMID: 26916803)
Am J Prev Med. 2020 Oct;59(4):481-492. (PMID: 32829968)

Keywords: COVID-19; cross-sectional survey; infodemic; intergroup contact; media bias; moderation analysis; news exposure; news trust; prejudice; racism; regression; social media use

Date Created: 20200914 Date Completed: 20201005 Latest Revision: 20240802

20240802

PMC7527163

10.2196/22767

32924948