Social Media News Headlines and Their Influence on Well-Being: Emotional States, Emotion Regulation, and Resilience
Today, many individuals read the daily news from social media platforms. Research has shown that news with negative valence might influence the well-being of individuals. Existing research that examined the impact of headlines on individuals’ well-being has primarily focused on examining the positiv...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-06-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/14/6/109 |
| _version_ | 1827210212403052544 |
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| author | Marilena Mousoulidou Loukia Taxitari Andri Christodoulou |
| author_facet | Marilena Mousoulidou Loukia Taxitari Andri Christodoulou |
| author_sort | Marilena Mousoulidou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Today, many individuals read the daily news from social media platforms. Research has shown that news with negative valence might influence the well-being of individuals. Existing research that examined the impact of headlines on individuals’ well-being has primarily focused on examining the positive or negative polarity of words used in the headlines. In the present study, we adopt a different approach and ask participants to categorize the headlines themselves based on the emotions they experienced while reading them and how their choice impacts their well-being. A total of 306 participants were presented with 40 headlines from main news sites that were considered popular based on the number of public reactions. Participants had to rate their emotional experience of the headlines following five emotional states (i.e., happiness, anger, sadness, fear, and interest). Emotion regulation strategies and resilience were also measured. In line with our hypotheses, we found that participants reported experiencing negative emotions more intensively while reading the headlines. Emotion regulation was not found to influence the emotional states of individuals, whereas resilience did. These findings highlight that individuals can experience heightened emotions without reading the entire news story. This effect was observed regardless of the headline’s emotional valence (i.e., positive, negative, or neutral). Furthermore, our study highlights the critical role of interest as a factor in news consumption. Interest significantly affects individuals’ engagement and reactions to headlines, regardless of valence. The findings underscore the complex interplay between headline content and reader engagement and stress the need for further research into how headlines are presented to protect individuals from potential emotional costs. |
| first_indexed | 2025-03-21T13:24:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e7edc711feb645bcaa2c2ebbe5198e9e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2174-8144 2254-9625 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-21T13:24:10Z |
| publishDate | 2024-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-e7edc711feb645bcaa2c2ebbe5198e9e2024-06-26T14:21:40ZengMDPI AGEuropean Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education2174-81442254-96252024-06-011461647166510.3390/ejihpe14060109Social Media News Headlines and Their Influence on Well-Being: Emotional States, Emotion Regulation, and ResilienceMarilena Mousoulidou0Loukia Taxitari1Andri Christodoulou2Department of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos 8042, CyprusDepartment of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos 8042, CyprusDepartment of Psychology, Neapolis University Pafos, Paphos 8042, CyprusToday, many individuals read the daily news from social media platforms. Research has shown that news with negative valence might influence the well-being of individuals. Existing research that examined the impact of headlines on individuals’ well-being has primarily focused on examining the positive or negative polarity of words used in the headlines. In the present study, we adopt a different approach and ask participants to categorize the headlines themselves based on the emotions they experienced while reading them and how their choice impacts their well-being. A total of 306 participants were presented with 40 headlines from main news sites that were considered popular based on the number of public reactions. Participants had to rate their emotional experience of the headlines following five emotional states (i.e., happiness, anger, sadness, fear, and interest). Emotion regulation strategies and resilience were also measured. In line with our hypotheses, we found that participants reported experiencing negative emotions more intensively while reading the headlines. Emotion regulation was not found to influence the emotional states of individuals, whereas resilience did. These findings highlight that individuals can experience heightened emotions without reading the entire news story. This effect was observed regardless of the headline’s emotional valence (i.e., positive, negative, or neutral). Furthermore, our study highlights the critical role of interest as a factor in news consumption. Interest significantly affects individuals’ engagement and reactions to headlines, regardless of valence. The findings underscore the complex interplay between headline content and reader engagement and stress the need for further research into how headlines are presented to protect individuals from potential emotional costs.https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/14/6/109headlinessocial medianewswell-beingemotional statesemotion regulation |
| spellingShingle | Marilena Mousoulidou Loukia Taxitari Andri Christodoulou Social Media News Headlines and Their Influence on Well-Being: Emotional States, Emotion Regulation, and Resilience European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education headlines social media news well-being emotional states emotion regulation |
| title | Social Media News Headlines and Their Influence on Well-Being: Emotional States, Emotion Regulation, and Resilience |
| title_full | Social Media News Headlines and Their Influence on Well-Being: Emotional States, Emotion Regulation, and Resilience |
| title_fullStr | Social Media News Headlines and Their Influence on Well-Being: Emotional States, Emotion Regulation, and Resilience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social Media News Headlines and Their Influence on Well-Being: Emotional States, Emotion Regulation, and Resilience |
| title_short | Social Media News Headlines and Their Influence on Well-Being: Emotional States, Emotion Regulation, and Resilience |
| title_sort | social media news headlines and their influence on well being emotional states emotion regulation and resilience |
| topic | headlines social media news well-being emotional states emotion regulation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2254-9625/14/6/109 |
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