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The moderating effect of hope on the association between incidental negative news exposure on social media and well-being

Mihajlovic, T. (2022) The moderating effect of hope on the association between incidental negative news exposure on social media and well-being.

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Abstract:Research on the effects of incidental negative news exposure on social media is scarce. Therefore, this study experimentally tested whether exposure to an artificial Instagram feed with and without incidental negative news about climate change elicited changes in well-being. Additionally, it was investigated whether hope could moderate the relationship between incidental negative news exposure and well-being. A total of 211 participants were randomly assigned to either the control condition (n = 105) or experimental condition (n = 106). Well-being was measured pre-and post-exposure using the MHC-SF and an adjusted PCQ-24 hope subscale was used to assess levels of hope. Results from the paired sample t-test indicated a statistically significant decline in well-being across both groups, but a larger decline was observed in the experimental group. A second analysis using Hayes’ PROCESS macro for SPSS revealed no statistically significant association between incidental negative news exposure and well-being. Moreover, hope had no moderating effect on the original relationship. This is one of the first studies addressing the incidental aspect of negative news exposure on social media and its impact on well-being. The conflicting findings and the absence of a moderating effect led to new questions. Consequently, limitations were outlined and suggestions were discussed.
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/91545
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