Information Dissemination and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Relationship between Different Information Sources and Symptoms of Psychopathology

Abstract

The 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic has added to the mental health strain on individuals and groups across the world. Viral mitigation protocols and viral spread affect millions every day, but to widely different degrees. How individuals gather information about the pandemic might have an effect on levels of mental distress in the population. In this cross-sectional and representative study of the adult population of Norway, findings suggest that information gathered through newspapers and social media are the information pathways with the strongest association to symptoms of anxiety, depression and health anxiety with small to medium effect sizes. However, avoiding information about the pandemic had larger effect sizes related to symptoms of psychopathology than acquiring information about the pandemic from any source. The results suggest that to reach those who avoid pandemic news is an important goal, both to ensure the population as a whole gets relevant information regarding current viral mitigation protocols, that may in turn alleviate stress, and thus reduce the likelihood of viral transmission. The spread of pandemic misinformation on social media and the internet must be buffered, and successful interventions against misinformation may affect the mental health of the population.

The Mental Health Impact of Daily News Exposure During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ecological Momentary Assessment Study

“…News coverage and publicly available information about COVID-19 play an important role in perceptions of risk and subsequent preventive behaviors. Previous research has indicated that only specific types of media engagement (ie, news from official government or health organizations) are related to preventive behaviors but that COVID-19 news consumption increases anxiety and distress regardless of platform or media source [ 11 , 26 , 27 ]. These findings illuminate the importance of accurate and easily accessible news about the pandemic.…”

“…A nationally representative, cross-sectional survey found that consuming news about COVID-19 was associated with greater psychological distress in the week following the implementation of stay-at-home orders in the United States [ 8 ]. Individuals who reported following the news “very closely” reported the highest levels of distress, which were associated with increases in perceived threat of the virus [ 8 , 11 , 26 ]. Greater frequency and duration of engagement with news about COVID-19 are associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression regardless of source, with individuals who consume COVID-19-related media across multiple platforms reporting the greatest increases in symptom severity [ 7 , 27 ].…”