Eliana DuBosar, Jay D. Hmielowski, Muhammad Ehab Rasul
{"title":"In Diversity We Trust? Examining the Effect of Political Newsroom Diversity on Media Trust, Use, and Avoidance","authors":"Eliana DuBosar, Jay D. Hmielowski, Muhammad Ehab Rasul","doi":"10.1177/00936502251341081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251341081","url":null,"abstract":"In an era of declining American media trust, it is crucial to examine methods for increasing trust and encouraging holistic information seeking. Accordingly, we extend scholarship assessing outcomes of journalistic transparency by examining the effects of providing consumers with a breakdown of the political diversity of journalists working for a news outlet. We conducted three experiments varying the ideological (Study 1) and partisan (Studies 2 and 3) identification of journalists working for an outlet, assessing impacts on outlet trust, use, and avoidance intentions, and whether trust mediated relationships for the latter two outcomes. Participants reported higher trust, greater use, and lower avoidance intentions for balanced (i.e., equally represented political viewpoints) and unaffiliated (i.e., no political information) outlets compared to two partisan majority outlets. Results showed no differences in trust or use/avoidance intentions between the unaffiliated and balanced outlets. Additionally, an out-group bias was prevalent for partisans across all three experiments.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144594498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Communication ResearchPub Date : 2025-07-01Epub Date: 2023-04-23DOI: 10.1177/00936502231166091
Amy Shirong Lu, Melanie C Green, Caio Victor Sousa, Jungyun Hwang, I-Min Lee, Debbe Thompson, Tom Baranowski
{"title":"To Pause With a Cliffhanger or a Temporary Closure? The Differential Impact of Serial Versus Episodic Narratives on Children's Physical Activity Behaviors.","authors":"Amy Shirong Lu, Melanie C Green, Caio Victor Sousa, Jungyun Hwang, I-Min Lee, Debbe Thompson, Tom Baranowski","doi":"10.1177/00936502231166091","DOIUrl":"10.1177/00936502231166091","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research has supported the effectiveness of narratives for promoting health behavior, but different narrative presentation formats (serial vs. episodic) have seldom been compared. Suspense theories suggest that serial narratives, which do not provide a full resolution at the end of an episode, may create higher motivation for continued engagement with a story. Forty-four 8 to 12-year-old children were randomly assigned to watch an animation series designed for an existing active video game in which the plot was delivered either continuously across multiple episodes (serial) or in multiple yet relatively independent self-contained episodes (episodic). Controlling for social desirability, children who watched the serial narrative had significantly more moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and step counts while the episodic group's gameplay duration decreased, especially during later visits. There was no difference in self-reported narrative immersion or physical activity intention. Serial narratives can result in more time spent in MVPA behaviors than episodic narratives.</p>","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":" ","pages":"600-625"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12192482/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46839412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Frank M. Schneider, Anne Bartsch, Larissa Leonhard, Anea Meinert
{"title":"Eudaimonic Entertainment Experiences of TV Theme Nights and Their Relationships With Political Information Processing and Engagement","authors":"Frank M. Schneider, Anne Bartsch, Larissa Leonhard, Anea Meinert","doi":"10.1177/00936502251339691","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251339691","url":null,"abstract":"Can fictional entertainment foster political information processing and engagement, and if so, how? A German national telephone survey ( <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> <jats:sub>Study1</jats:sub> = 905) and two online surveys ( <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> <jats:sub>Study2</jats:sub> = 877; <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> <jats:sub>Study3</jats:sub> = 1,018) were conducted to extend prior experimental research by examining unforced exposure to full-length media stimuli in real-world settings, using representative surveys, and including self-reports of actual behavior after exposure. Survey participants were interviewed about television theme nights (i.e., a combination of subsequent entertainment and information programs on the same topic) to examine direct and indirect relationships between eudaimonic entertainment experiences (i.e., moving and thought-provoking experiences) and politically relevant outcomes. As expected, feeling moved by a movie positively correlated with reflective thoughts, which, in turn, were associated with issue interest, subjective knowledge, and willingness to participate politically across all three studies. Additional relationships of feeling moved and reflective thoughts with information seeking, objective knowledge, and interpersonal discussion emerged for some but not all studies.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"656 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144513319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Juho Vesa, Arttu Malkamäki, Antti Gronow, Paul Wagner, Tuomas Ylä-Anttila
{"title":"Beyond Formal Power: How Central Roles in Political Networks are Related to Media Visibility","authors":"Juho Vesa, Arttu Malkamäki, Antti Gronow, Paul Wagner, Tuomas Ylä-Anttila","doi":"10.1177/00936502251343986","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251343986","url":null,"abstract":"A recurring finding in communication studies is that political actors with formal-institutional power are highly visible in the media. The relationship between informal power and media visibility remains less understood. This study examines whether central roles in networks of political collaboration—as indicators of informal power—are associated with increased visibility in mainstream news media. We hypothesize that organizations with central roles are more visible in the media because informal power increases their newsworthiness. Using social network methods and Bayesian regressions on survey and media data on organizations involved in climate policy in Finland, we find that central organizations with many collaboration partners receive more media coverage. Other central roles, such as brokerage or coalition leadership, are not associated with media visibility. This study advances knowledge of media visibility by showing that informal power is associated with media visibility, and that some power positions are more important than others.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144334900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When Sexism Becomes the Norm: The Effect of Sexism on Women’s Participation in Political Online Discussions","authors":"Sabine Reich, Marko Bachl","doi":"10.1177/00936502251343988","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251343988","url":null,"abstract":"Publicly visible women in political news are often met with sexist backlash in social media’s comment sections. We take a social norms perspective to argue that the presence of politically active women in the news sets a descriptive norm to increase female social media users’ participation in online discussions (role model hypothesis). However, sexist comments against visible women function as signals of injunctive norms and decrease participation (sexist backlash hypothesis). A preregistered nested-stimuli experiment with a sample of German women provided no support for the role model hypothesis but some support for the adverse effects of sexist attacks. The findings indicate that the increase of women in prominent public positions might harm, instead of nourish, women’s discursive participation intention as long as the sexist backlash against women in public roles prevails.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144290159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Emerging Adults’ Relational Turbulence with Parents as a Function of Parent Involvement in Their Romantic Relationship: A Conditional Process Analysis","authors":"Paul Schrodt, Emily Stager","doi":"10.1177/00936502251345599","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251345599","url":null,"abstract":"Using relational turbulence theory, this study examined the conditional direct and indirect associations between parent involvement (i.e., facilitation and interference) in emerging adults’ romantic relationships and relational turbulence in the parent-child relationship vis-à-vis the valence of conversations with parents about the romantic partner. Participants included 264 emerging adult children who were involved in a romantic relationship. Parent interference with the romantic partnership was directly and indirectly associated with turbulence in the parent-child relationship via communication valence. The direct association was conditioned by the family’s conversation orientation and whether the adult child valued the parent’s opinion about their romantic partnership, whereas the indirect association was not. Likewise, parent facilitation was directly and indirectly associated with turbulence via communication valence, though again only the direct association was conditioned by conversation orientation and valuing the parent’s opinion. Implications for relational turbulence theory are discussed.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144290161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Immediate and Delayed Beliefs in Headlines With High-arousal Sentence Starters","authors":"Xiaoyu Zhou, Zhang Tan, Danjun Wang, Fei Wang, Kaiping Peng","doi":"10.1177/00936502251343979","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251343979","url":null,"abstract":"Emotionally charged messages can distort truth perception, and recent research highlights the impact of emotional language on news beliefs. While past studies have focused on emotional valence, the role of emotional arousal in shaping beliefs remains underexplored, particularly regarding its long-term effects. This research investigates both immediate and delayed beliefs in response to headlines with high-arousal sentence starters (HASS), such as “Shocking!.” Across five longitudinal experiments ( <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> <jats:sub>immediate</jats:sub> = 1,329; <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> <jats:sub>delayed</jats:sub> = 687), including two preregistered studies and a mini meta-analysis, we found that HASS initially suppresses belief. However, this effect diminishes over time, leading to a rebound in belief. These findings underscore the importance of emotional language in truth perception and suggest that practitioners should exercise caution when employing HASS in communication strategies.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144193170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Timon Elmer, Aurelio Fernández, Jeffrey A. Hall, Marie Stadel
{"title":"Day-to-day Social Interactions Online and Offline: The Interplay Between Interaction Mode, Interaction Quality, and Momentary Well-being","authors":"Timon Elmer, Aurelio Fernández, Jeffrey A. Hall, Marie Stadel","doi":"10.1177/00936502251341088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251341088","url":null,"abstract":"Digital social interactions differ in many ways from face-to-face interactions. This study examines four preregistered hypotheses on the within-person interplay between interaction mode (i.e., digital vs. face-to-face interactions), interaction quality, and momentary well-being. Young adults from Spain ( <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> <jats:sub>1</jats:sub> = 216) and the Netherlands ( <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> = 22)—provided 5,116 and 1,386 Ecological Momentary Assessments (EMA), respectively. In the Spanish sample, there were no differences in interaction quality between digital and face-to-face interactions, whereas in the Dutch sample, digital interactions were of higher quality. Interaction quality was positively associated with momentary well-being in both samples. Momentary well-being was higher after face-to-face interactions in the Spanish but not in the Dutch sample. Interaction quality did not mediate the relationship between interaction mode and well-being; instead, it moderated it in the Spanish sample. Although interaction quality was consistently associated with momentary well-being, it only partially explains why face-to-face interactions differ from digital ones.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"81 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144193168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Source-Inconsistent News From Partisan Media: Expectancy Violations as a Way to Improve Attitudes Toward Out-Party Media","authors":"Masahiro Yamamoto, Chia-Heng Chang","doi":"10.1177/00936502251343980","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251343980","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on Expectancy Violation Theory (EVT), we predict that news content that is inconsistent with out-party media’s ideological stance forms a positive expectancy violation and thus leads partisans to view these outlets more favorably. To test this prediction, we conducted two online experiments where participants viewed source-consistent or source-inconsistent news headlines from in-party (CNN for Democrats, Fox News for Republicans) or out-party (Fox News for Democrats, CNN for Republicans) media. Study 1 showed that exposure to source-inconsistent news headlines from out-party media led to more favorable feeling thermometers through unexpectedness and positive valence. Study 2 further showed that these indirect effects through unexpectedness and positive valence were larger with a high dose of exposure, but still significant even with a low dose of exposure. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144193072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chelly Maes, Robyn Vanherle, Jasmine Fardouly, Laura Vandenbosch
{"title":"#BoPo, #Ideal, or #Mixed? Exploring Adolescents’ Daily Exposure to Appearance Content on Social Media and Its Relations with Body Image Components","authors":"Chelly Maes, Robyn Vanherle, Jasmine Fardouly, Laura Vandenbosch","doi":"10.1177/00936502251338901","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502251338901","url":null,"abstract":"When using social media, adolescents encounter various types of appearance-related content. Yet, no research has explored how daily exposure to such types of content, including idealized content, body positivity (BoPo) content, and a mixture of both, links to adolescents’ body image states. With the present 14-day daily diary study among French adolescents ( <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 108, 1,434 daily assessments, <jats:italic> M <jats:sub>age</jats:sub> </jats:italic> = 15.99, 64.8% girls), we examined how exposure to idealized appearance content and BoPo content predicts adolescents’ state body satisfaction and surveillance on the same day and the next day. More so, we explored how the relationships may vary depending on a co-occurrence of exposure to both content types (i.e., mixed exposure). At a between-person level, exposure to idealized appearance and BoPo content was linked to higher body surveillance. At the within-level, BoPo content was associated with higher body satisfaction, meaning that on days that adolescents saw more BoPo content than usual (compared to their own means), they were also more satisfied with their bodies. However, these relations did not last until the following day. No other within-person level relations emerged. Also, when exploring the impact of the interaction between exposure to BoPo and idealized content, non-significant results emerged. The findings highlight the complexity of adolescents’ interactions with social media and emphasize the importance of future research adopting an ecological approach. This should involve considering both intra-individual and inter-individual factors, as well as the diverse types of social media exposure.","PeriodicalId":48323,"journal":{"name":"Communication Research","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144193204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}