News Consumption and Its Unpleasant Side Effect: Studying the Effect of Hard and Soft News Exposure on Mental Well-Being Over Time

IF 1.7 4区心理学 Q2 COMMUNICATION

Journal of Media Psychology-Theories Methods and Applications Pub Date : 2017-09-01 DOI:10.1027/1864-1105/a000224

M. Boukes, R. Vliegenthart

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引用次数: 10

Abstract

Following the news is generally understood to be crucial for democracy as it allows citizens to politically participate in an informed manner; yet, one may wonder about the unintended side effects it has for the mental well-being of citizens. With news focusing on the negative and worrisome events in the world, framing that evokes a sense of powerlessness, and lack of entertainment value, this study hypothesizes that news consumption decreases mental well-being via negative hedonic experiences; thereby, we differentiate between hard and soft news. Using a panel survey in combination with latent growth curve modeling (n = 2,767), we demonstrate that the consumption of hard news television programs has a negative effect on the development of mental well-being over time. Soft news consumption, by contrast, has a marginally positive impact on the trend in well-being. This can be explained by the differential topic focus, framing and style of soft news vis-à-vis hard news. Investigating the effects of news consumption on mental well-being provides insight into the impact news exposure has on variables other than the political ones, which definitively are not less societally relevant.

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新闻消费及其不良副作用:软硬新闻对心理健康的长期影响研究

关注新闻通常被认为对民主至关重要，因为它允许公民以知情的方式参与政治;然而，人们可能想知道它对公民的精神健康产生的意想不到的副作用。由于新闻关注的是世界上消极和令人担忧的事件，使人产生无力感，缺乏娱乐价值，本研究假设新闻消费通过消极的享乐体验降低了心理健康;因此，我们区分硬新闻和软新闻。通过面板调查结合潜在增长曲线模型(n = 2767)，我们证明了硬新闻电视节目的消费随着时间的推移对心理健康的发展有负面影响。相比之下，软新闻消费对幸福感的趋势有轻微的积极影响。这可以通过软新闻与-à-vis硬新闻的主题焦点、框架和风格的差异来解释。调查新闻消费对心理健康的影响，可以深入了解新闻曝光对政治以外的变量的影响，这些变量的社会相关性肯定不会降低。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Media Psychology-Theories Methods and Applications Multiple-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

11.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Journal of Media Psychology (JMP) is committed to publishing original, high-quality papers which cover the broad range of media psychological research. This peer-reviewed journal focuses on how human beings select, use, and experience various media as well as how media (use) can affect their cognitions, emotions, and behaviors. Submissions must substantially advance the current state-of the art on a theoretical and/or an empirical level. To name just a few typical fields and domains of inquiry, the Journal of Media Psychology considers manuscripts dealing with research on entertainment, computer-mediated communication (including social media), human-computer interaction, e-learning, computer and video games, virtual environments, or advertising. The journal is also open to research from neighboring disciplines as far as this work ties in with psychological concepts of the uses and effects of the media. Submissions of comparative work, e.g., crossmedia, cross-gender, or cross-cultural, are encouraged. Moreover, submissions including alternative analysis procedures such as the Bayesian approach are welcome. Starting in 2015, the pre-registration of research plans will also be possible. To ensure short turn-around cycles for manuscript review and fast publication, the Journal of Media Psychology relies heavily upon electronic communication and information exchange, starting from electronic submission and continuing throughout the entire review and production process.