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Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Media Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study
Journal of Medical Internet Research, Vol.24(6), pp.1-11
2022
PMID: 3553703
Appears in COVID-19 Research
Abstract
Background: Throughout the pandemic, the general population was encouraged to use media to be kept informed about sanitary measures while staying connected with others to obtain social support. However, due to mixed findings in the literature, it is not clear whether media use in such a context would be pathogenic or salutogenic.
Objective: Therefore, the associations between COVID-19–related stressors and frequency of media use for information-seeking on trauma- and stressor-related (TSR) symptoms were examined while also investigating how social media use for support-seeking and peritraumatic distress interact with those variables.
Methods: A path model was tested in a sample of 5913 adults who completed an online survey.
Results: The number of COVID-19–related stressors (β=.25; P<.001) and extent of information-seeking through media (β=.24; P=.006) were significantly associated with the severity of TSR symptoms in bivariate comparisons. Associations between levels of peritraumatic distress and both COVID-19–related stressors and information-seeking through media, and social media use for support- and information-seeking through media were found (βCOVID-19 stressors: Peritraumatic Distress Inventory=.49, P<.001; βseeking information: Peritraumatic Distress Inventory=.70, P<.001; βseeking information–seeking support=.04, P<.001).
Conclusions: Results suggest that exposure to COVID-19–related stressors and seeking COVID-19–related information through the media are associated with higher levels of peritraumatic distress that, in turn, lead to higher levels of TSR symptoms. Although exposure to the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic may be unavoidable, the frequency of COVID-19–related information consumption through various media should be approached with caution.
Details
- Title
- Media Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study
- Authors
- Marjolaine Rivest-Beauregard (Corresponding Author) - Douglas Mental Health University InstituteJustine Fortin - Université du Québec à MontréalConnie Guo - Douglas Mental Health University InstituteSabrina Cipolletta - University of PaduaRam P Sapkota - McGill UniversityMichelle Lonergan - Douglas Mental Health University InstituteAlain Brunet - Douglas Mental Health University Institute
- Publication details
- Journal of Medical Internet Research, Vol.24(6), pp.1-11
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications, Inc.
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.2196/33011
- ISSN
- 1438-8871; 1439-4456
- PMID
- 3553703
- Copyright note
- © Marjolaine Rivest-Beauregard, Justine Fortin, Connie Guo, Sabrina Cipolletta, Ram P Sapkota, Michelle Lonergan, Alain Brunet. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 07.06.2022. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
- Data Availability
- Data access can be granted upon request.
- Grant note
- AB received funding from the Internal Social Sciences and Humanities Development Grant from McGill University to conduct this study. Additionally, both MR-B and JF are financially supported by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec.
- Organisation Unit
- Thompson Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991105736902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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