University of Twente Student Theses
The Relationship between Incidental News Exposure on Social Media and Anxiety, and the Moderating Role of Optimism
Dittmar, Sarah (2022) The Relationship between Incidental News Exposure on Social Media and Anxiety, and the Moderating Role of Optimism.
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| Abstract: | There is great consensus in current research that exposure to negative news is directly related to an individual’s well-being, and that fear, sad mood and anxiety increase with increasing news exposure. With social media as a growing news channel, being updated about current events is part of people’s everyday lives. However, due to the pervasive nature of the news, being exposed to them may also happen unintentional. This type of news exposure is called incidental news exposure. In this study the relationship between incidental news exposure on social media and anxiety was examined. In addition to that it was studied whether optimism is a protective moderating factor in this relationship. For this study a cross-sectional survey design was employed, which measured a participant’s incidental news exposure. Furthermore, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Life Orientation Test – Revised (LOT-R) were administered to measure anxiety and optimism. The moderation analysis revealed a non-significant relationship between incidental news exposure and anxiety. A significant negative relationship was found between optimism and anxiety and a moderating effect of optimism was present in the model. Overall, the study results showed that incidental news exposure is not related to anxiety. However, the model revealed a significant moderation effect of optimism, meaning that the relationship between incidental news exposure and anxiety is influenced by optimism. This effect was however found to be positive, meaning that with increasing optimism anxiety also increases. This was contradictory to the expectation that optimism could protect people from anxiety. A further significant finding of this study was that higher levels of optimism are associated with lower levels of anxiety. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/91364 |
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