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Overexposure to COVID-19 information amplifies emotional distress: a latent moderated mediation model.

ABSTRACT: An infodemic has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores whether overexposure to COVID-19-related information amplifies emotional distress. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in China during the outbreak and after the peak of the pandemic (N = 1313). A latent moderated mediation model was built to analyze this relationship. COVID-19 information exposure was found to relate positively with emotional distress, and risk perception mediated the association between them. Additionally, psychological resilience moderated the mediating effects of risk perception. However, five factors of resilience differed in their moderating effects. This study offers theoretical and practical implications apropos clinical intervention and public health management.

SUBMITTER: Feng Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9293900 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Overexposure to COVID-19 information amplifies emotional distress: a latent moderated mediation model.

Feng Yi Y Gu Wen W Dong Fangbai F Dong Dan D Qiao Zhihong Z

Translational psychiatry 20220718 1

An infodemic has accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores whether overexposure to COVID-19-related information amplifies emotional distress. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in China during the outbreak and after the peak of the pandemic (N = 1313). A latent moderated mediation model was built to analyze this relationship. COVID-19 information exposure was found to relate positively with emotional distress, and risk perception mediated the association between them. Add ...[more]

PMID: 35851579

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Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 outbreak is no longer a pure epidemiological concern but a true digital infodemic. Numerous conflicting information and misinformation occupy online platforms and specifically social media. While we have lived in an infodemic environment for more than 2 years, we are more prone to feel overwhelmed by the information and suffer from long-term mental health problems. However, limited research has concentrated on the cause of these threats, particularly in terms of information processing and the context of infodemic.ObjectiveThis study proposed and tested moderated mediation pathways from two types of health information behaviors (social media engagement and interpersonal communication) on information overload and mental health symptoms-long-term stress.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional online survey between May and June of 2021 among the Malaysian public. The final sample size was 676 (N = 676). A conceptual model was built to guide the data analysis. We conducted structural equation modeling (SEM), moderation and mediation analyses to examine each direct pathway, moderating and mediating effects.ResultsAccording to the pathway analysis, we found that, during the infodemic period, engaging COVID-19 information on social media positively associated with information overload, but interpersonal communication was negatively related to it. As the proximal outcome, there was also a positive association between information overload and the final outcome, perceived stress. The moderation analysis only reported one significant interaction: risk perception weakened the association between social media engagement and information overload. A conditional indirect effect was demonstrated and the indirect associated between social media engagement and perceived stress mediated through information overload was further moderated by COVID-19 risk perception.ConclusionThis research offers new grounds for understanding health information behaviors and their consequences in the COVID-19 infodemic. We particularly highlighted the distinct functions of health information behaviors in causing information overload, as well as the importance of personal health belief in this process. Our proposed model contributes to the strategies of developing health messaging strategies that may be utilized by public health researchers and health educators in the future.

Dataset Information

Overexposure to COVID-19 information amplifies emotional distress: a latent moderated mediation model.

Publications

Overexposure to COVID-19 information amplifies emotional distress: a latent moderated mediation model.

Similar Datasets

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