Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Nov 4, 2021
Date Accepted: Apr 27, 2022
Date Submitted to PubMed: Apr 29, 2022
COVID-19 News and Its Association with the Mental Health of Sexual and Gender Minority Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Sexual and gender minority (SGM; people whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual and/or whose gender identity varies from what is traditionally associated with the sex assigned to them at birth) people experience high rates of trauma and significant disparities in anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Exposure to traumatic stressors, such as from news sources related to COVID-19, may be associated with symptoms of anxiety and PTSD.
Objective:
to evaluate the relationship between COVID-19 news exposure and anxiety and PTSD symptoms in a sample of SGM adults in the United States (US).
Methods:
Data were collected between March 23 and August 2, 2020 from The PRIDE Study, a national, longitudinal, cohort study of SGM people who reside in the US. Regression analyses were used to analyze the relationship between self-reported news exposure and (1) symptoms of anxiety and (2) symptoms of PTSD.
Results:
Our sample included a total of 3,079 SGM participants. Each hour increase in COVID-19 news exposure was associated with a 0.63-point increase (z=9.25, SE=0.07, P<.001) in the total anxiety symptom score. Similarly, each hour increase in news exposure was associated with a 1.55-point increase (z=6.88, SE=0.23, P<.001) in the total PTSD symptom score.
Conclusions:
Our study found that COVID-19 news exposure was positively associated with symptoms of anxiety and PTSD among SGM people. This supports previous literature in other populations where greater news exposure was associated with poorer mental health. Social media is a rising source of news exposure for many people. Due to the discouragement of in-person gatherings, reliance on social media may inadvertently increase one’s exposure to COVID-19-related news and increases the potential for poor mental health outcomes.
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