Exposure to COVID-19-related media content and mental health during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in China

Exposure to disaster-related media content is closely related to mental health. This study aimed to explore the patterns of COVID-19-related media exposure and examine whether these patterns were associated with mental health. In total, 917 participants in this study completed the Media Exposure Questionnaire (MEQ), the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Then latent class analysis and discriminant analysis were conducted to identify the patterns of media exposure. Finally, we tested how mental health was associated with such patterns. Four subtypes of media exposure were identified: the slightly exposed group, the lower-moderately exposed group, the higher-moderately exposed group, and the heavily exposed group. And there were significant differences in individuals' levels of positive and negative affect among different subtypes, but no difference in depression, anxiety, and stress. The results of the current study indicated that more COVID-19-related media exposure was related to increased positive and negative affect. And the current findings would help people to better understand the relationships between media exposure and mental health during a pandemic.