The 2018 California wildfires: examining sex differences in response to crisis communication and underlying processes

ABSTRACT A sizable body of research has explored information seeking processes during crises and disasters, including the ways in which people seek mediated information to help make sense of the event and take action. Much of this research has postulated that information seeking is used as a mechanism for stress reduction, and that sex differences exist in terms of information seeking and risk perceptions. The current study attempted to explicate these links in the context of the 2018 California wildfires. While evidence was found for differential patterns of information seeking across sex and degree of risk perception, evidence did not support the notion that aggregate information seeking leads to a reduction in stress. Alternative theoretical explanations for sex differences in crisis information seeking and stress responses are proposed and discussed, as are implications for crisis managers and emergency responders.