Children’s Emotions after Exposure to News: Investigating Chat Conversations with Peers as a Coping Strategy

Abstract

Hardly any research has been conducted regarding coping strategies that children can use in response to negative news, although they are frequently exposed to and emotionally affected by such news. Chat conversations with peers about the news could be a coping strategy for children in this regard. To investigate this, children (N = 307; 46.3% girls; Mage = 10.51; SDage = 0.98; range 8–13 years old) participated in a preregistered experiment in which their emotions were measured before and after exposure to a news video on a smartphone and also after a postexposure activity (i.e., chatting about the news as an experimental condition versus chatting about something else or solving a puzzle as control conditions). The results showed that the decrease in negative emotions and the increase in positive emotions were weaker for children who chatted about the news than for those in the control conditions. Thus, seeking social support in online chat conversations did not have the anticipated effect—and might even have an adverse effect.

Gender differences in the association between body mass index and recent suicide attempts in Chinese patients with first-episode drug-naïve major depressive disorder

“…During prenatal and adolescent development, sex hormones may influence a number of behaviors, including psychological changes during puberty (e.g., increased risk-taking behavior in early adolescence, gender differences in internalizing symptoms, i.e., girls have more anxiety and self-esteem problems than boys), gender-typed activity interests (e.g., career choices), gender identity, sexual orientation, cognitive abilities, and behavioral problems 55 . Previous research on cognitive development and the effects of gender coping styles has shown differences in boys’ and girls’ preferences for coping strategies 56 . In addition, a longitudinal study of depressive cognitions in children and adolescents found that some cognitive differences in girls, including perceptions of appearance and self-worth, were more stable and idiosyncratic than those of boys before gender differences in depression emerged 57 .…”

Explaining Children’s News Avoidance During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Several studies have shown that children display increased negative emotions after negative news consumption (e.g., Walma Van Der Molen et al, 2002 ; Buijzen et al, 2007 ; Riddle et al, 2012 ; Ebbinkhuijsen et al, 2021b ). In general, the intensity of emotions elicited by the news was found to be relatively low in studies that investigated children’s consumption of news that is specifically tailored to their needs – such as the Dutch children’s television news (e.g., Kleemans et al, 2017a , b ; Ebbinkhuijsen et al, 2021a ). However, children can also easily access and be exposed to non-childproof news content in an online setting (cf.…”

“…In other words, news consumption becomes interesting and relevant for them during this life phase. At the same time, concerns are raised that news consumption might trigger news avoidance in this age group specifically, because of the negative nature that news stories generally have and the negative emotional responses it consequently elicits in children ( Riddle et al, 2012 ; Alon-Tirosh and Lemish, 2014 ; Ebbinkhuijsen et al, 2021a , b ).…”