COVID-19 related information seeking: The impact of media on parental concerns

Abstract

The expansion of information sources and their use has accelerated since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes provoking significant concern in the daily lives of parents. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between COVID-19 related information sources and the level of concern about COVID-19 among parents of school-aged children. Using factor analysis and hierarchical ascending classification, we constructed groups according to the information sources they used. We performed ANOVA analysis and then binomial logistic regression to compare concern levels among the groups created. Overall, the 3,459 participants were mainly women (79.2%) and 59.5% reported being between 35 and 44 years old. The mean concern score in our sample was 9.5/15 (s.d. = 3.87). The whole sample fell into three groups: (1) Traditional Media (n = 1,610), who mainly used newspapers; (2) Online Social Networks and Entourage (n = 776), who mostly consulted online social media as well as friends and family; and (3) the Unplugged (n = 1,073), who consulted few or no information sources. Compared to the Unplugged, individuals in the other two groups had a higher risk of being concerned (Traditional Media, OR = 2.2; p < 0.001; Social Networks and Entourage, OR = 3.1; p < 0.001). Communication about pandemic risk should be conveyed based on reliable information and at moderate intervals to safeguard the mental health of individuals.

Protecting public’s wellbeing against COVID-19 infodemic: The role of trust in information sources and rapid dissemination and transparency of information over time

“…At the beginning, there was limited scientific understanding and knowledge about the coronavirus. Due to the unknown nature of the novel virus, misinformation and rumors were widely spread across social media platforms, which instilled a strong sense of out-controlled crisis (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). Over 2 years into the pandemic, scientific understanding of COVID-19 has been advanced, and vaccines have been developed.…”

“…Extensive empirical studies from different countries have demonstrated that a broad range of rumors and misinformation about COVID-19 spread across social media, which negatively impacted public's wellbeing and posited challenge for pandemic control (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7). Research has shown that trust in COVID-19 information from social media was negatively linked to accurate knowledge about COVID-19 (16), positively linked to beliefs in COVID-19 myths and false information (17) as well as vaccine hesitancy (5,18,19).…”