News media exposure and life satisfaction in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and gender
Background Research has found that news media exposure may have both positive and negative consequences for well-being in times of crisis. However, the internal mechanisms underlying that relationship need further investigation. The pur-pose of the research presented in the paper was to explore the...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Termedia Publishing House
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Current Issues in Personality Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cipp.ug.edu.pl/News-media-exposure-and-life-satisfaction-nin-the-COVID-19-pandemic-a-moderated-mediation,156172,0,2.html |
| _version_ | 1797450292366671872 |
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| author | Magdalena Iwanowska Anna Maria Zawadzka Blanka Kondratowicz |
| author_facet | Magdalena Iwanowska Anna Maria Zawadzka Blanka Kondratowicz |
| author_sort | Magdalena Iwanowska |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background
Research has found that news media exposure may have both positive and negative consequences for well-being in times of crisis. However, the internal mechanisms underlying that relationship need further investigation. The pur-pose of the research presented in the paper was to explore the role of COVID-19 fear and worries and users’ gender in the relationship between news media exposure and life satisfaction.
Participants and procedure
Three hundred seventy-one media users aged 19 to 65 (M = 28.88, SD = 10.25) were surveyed with news media ex-posure, COVID-19 fear and worries, and life satisfaction scales. Correlation analyses and moderated mediation anal-yses were performed.
Results
The study demonstrated a significant positive association between news media exposure and life satisfaction, and an indirect effect of news exposure on life satisfaction via COVID-19 fear moderated by gender: elevated COVID-19 fear decreases the positive association between news exposure and life satisfaction, and this effect is stronger for women.
Conclusions
The present study expands our understanding of the role that news media can play in shaping the user’s well-being in a time of a health crisis. It demonstrates that the effects of exposure to news media during a crisis are twofold. On the one hand, the use of news media is associated with a more positive evaluation of one’s life, which may indicate that media use is a way to cope with a crisis. On the other hand, frequent use of news media leads to an elevated level of fear related to COVID-19, which, in turn, lowers the user’s well-being. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:38:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5cc3bdef7f224d2f8a10b27f9a1776f0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2353-4192 2353-561X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:38:31Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Termedia Publishing House |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Current Issues in Personality Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5cc3bdef7f224d2f8a10b27f9a1776f02023-11-27T12:34:39ZengTermedia Publishing HouseCurrent Issues in Personality Psychology2353-41922353-561X2023-01-0111320521510.5114/cipp/156172156172News media exposure and life satisfaction in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and genderMagdalena Iwanowska0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0878-9523Anna Maria Zawadzka1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1350-3881Blanka Kondratowicz2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8027-2924Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, PolandInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, PolandInstitute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, PolandBackground Research has found that news media exposure may have both positive and negative consequences for well-being in times of crisis. However, the internal mechanisms underlying that relationship need further investigation. The pur-pose of the research presented in the paper was to explore the role of COVID-19 fear and worries and users’ gender in the relationship between news media exposure and life satisfaction. Participants and procedure Three hundred seventy-one media users aged 19 to 65 (M = 28.88, SD = 10.25) were surveyed with news media ex-posure, COVID-19 fear and worries, and life satisfaction scales. Correlation analyses and moderated mediation anal-yses were performed. Results The study demonstrated a significant positive association between news media exposure and life satisfaction, and an indirect effect of news exposure on life satisfaction via COVID-19 fear moderated by gender: elevated COVID-19 fear decreases the positive association between news exposure and life satisfaction, and this effect is stronger for women. Conclusions The present study expands our understanding of the role that news media can play in shaping the user’s well-being in a time of a health crisis. It demonstrates that the effects of exposure to news media during a crisis are twofold. On the one hand, the use of news media is associated with a more positive evaluation of one’s life, which may indicate that media use is a way to cope with a crisis. On the other hand, frequent use of news media leads to an elevated level of fear related to COVID-19, which, in turn, lowers the user’s well-being.https://cipp.ug.edu.pl/News-media-exposure-and-life-satisfaction-nin-the-COVID-19-pandemic-a-moderated-mediation,156172,0,2.htmlnews media exposurelife satisfactioncovid-19 fearcovid-19 worriesgender |
| spellingShingle | Magdalena Iwanowska Anna Maria Zawadzka Blanka Kondratowicz News media exposure and life satisfaction in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and gender Current Issues in Personality Psychology news media exposure life satisfaction covid-19 fear covid-19 worries gender |
| title | News media exposure and life satisfaction
in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and gender |
| title_full | News media exposure and life satisfaction
in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and gender |
| title_fullStr | News media exposure and life satisfaction
in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and gender |
| title_full_unstemmed | News media exposure and life satisfaction
in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and gender |
| title_short | News media exposure and life satisfaction
in the COVID-19 pandemic: a moderated mediation model of COVID-19 fear and worries and gender |
| title_sort | news media exposure and life satisfaction in the covid 19 pandemic a moderated mediation model of covid 19 fear and worries and gender |
| topic | news media exposure life satisfaction covid-19 fear covid-19 worries gender |
| url | https://cipp.ug.edu.pl/News-media-exposure-and-life-satisfaction-nin-the-COVID-19-pandemic-a-moderated-mediation,156172,0,2.html |
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