TY - JOUR
T1 - Burden of mental distress in the US associated with trust in media for COVID-19 information
AU - Jalan, Madhu
AU - Riehm, Kira
AU - Agarwal, Smisha
AU - Gibson, Dustin
AU - Labrique, Alain
AU - Thrul, Johannes
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022/12/1
Y1 - 2022/12/1
N2 - During the COVID-19 pandemic, news and social media outlets have played a major role in dissemination of information. This analysis aimed to study the association between trust in social and traditional media and experiences of mental distress among a representative sample of US adults. Data for this study came from National Pandemic Pulse, a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey that sampled participants on the Dynata platform. Participants included 6435 adults surveyed between 15-23 December 2020. Ordinal logistic regression analyses examined the associations of trust in (i) social media, (ii) print media, (iii) broadcast TV and (iv) cable TV, for COVID-19-related information with self-reported mental distress (4-item Patient Health Questionnaire), controlling for sociodemographics and census region. Compared with those who distrusted social media, those who trusted social media had 2.09 times (95% CI = 1.84-2.37) greater adjusted odds of being in a more severe category of mental distress. In contrast, compared with those who distrusted print media, those who trusted print media had 0.80 times (95% CI = 0.69-0.93) lower adjusted odds of being in a more severe category of mental distress. No significant associations were found between mental distress and trust in broadcast or cable TV for accessing news about COVID-19. Trust in different news outlets may be associated with mental distress during public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. Future studies should explore mechanisms behind these associations, including adherence to best practices for crisis reporting among different media sources and exposure of individuals to misinformation.
AB - During the COVID-19 pandemic, news and social media outlets have played a major role in dissemination of information. This analysis aimed to study the association between trust in social and traditional media and experiences of mental distress among a representative sample of US adults. Data for this study came from National Pandemic Pulse, a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey that sampled participants on the Dynata platform. Participants included 6435 adults surveyed between 15-23 December 2020. Ordinal logistic regression analyses examined the associations of trust in (i) social media, (ii) print media, (iii) broadcast TV and (iv) cable TV, for COVID-19-related information with self-reported mental distress (4-item Patient Health Questionnaire), controlling for sociodemographics and census region. Compared with those who distrusted social media, those who trusted social media had 2.09 times (95% CI = 1.84-2.37) greater adjusted odds of being in a more severe category of mental distress. In contrast, compared with those who distrusted print media, those who trusted print media had 0.80 times (95% CI = 0.69-0.93) lower adjusted odds of being in a more severe category of mental distress. No significant associations were found between mental distress and trust in broadcast or cable TV for accessing news about COVID-19. Trust in different news outlets may be associated with mental distress during public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. Future studies should explore mechanisms behind these associations, including adherence to best practices for crisis reporting among different media sources and exposure of individuals to misinformation.
KW - COVID-19
KW - mental distress
KW - trust in media
KW - trust in social media
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142385440&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85142385440&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/heapro/daac162
DO - 10.1093/heapro/daac162
M3 - Article
C2 - 36409149
AN - SCOPUS:85142385440
SN - 0957-4824
VL - 37
JO - Health promotion international
JF - Health promotion international
IS - 6
M1 - daac162
ER -