*2.3. Analytic Strategy*

Hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed to examine the proposed hypotheses. The analysis was conducted in four steps. Emotional distress was entered as a continuous dependent variable; control variables including demographics, likelihood of getting infected, whether participants knew someone likely to suffer serious negative consequences or who has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, and political ideology were entered in Step 1. Information seeking about COVID-19 was entered in Step 2. The three news media use variables for television, newspapers, and social media were entered in Step 3 (to address possible multicollinearity between our multiple news media use terms, we also tested versions of the same model where we added each news media use variable and each interaction term separately. We confirmed that the results held). Finally, the interactions between information seeking about COVID-19 and the news media use measures were entered in Step 4. All predictors were mean-centered before they

were entered in the moderated regression model. The analysis was conducted using SPSS version 26 (SPSS Inc., Armonk, NY, USA).

#### **3. Results**

Among the control variables, age and gender were significant predictors of emotional distress. Younger (β = −0.145, *p* < 0.001) females (β = 0.130, *p* < 0.001) were more likely to be emotionally distressed. Higher levels of distress were reported when people perceived higher likelihood of getting infected by COVID-19 (β = 0.178, *p* < 0.001) and if they knew someone who was high risk (β = 0.054, *p* < 0.01). Moreover, people with conservative ideology were less likely to be distressed (β = −0.068, *p* < 0.01).

Regarding H1, results revealed that while accounting for a variety of control variables, the more COVID-19 information individuals sought the more likely they were to be emotionally distressed (β = 0.255, *p* < 0.001; see Table 2). Thus, H1 was supported.

**Table 2.** Hierarchical regression analysis examining the relationships between COVID-19 information seeking, news media usage, and emotional distress.


*Note.* All of the coefficients are standardized. Predictors (information seeking and news media usage) are meancentered. ΔR2, the R square change, shows the improvement in R-square when the next group of predictors is added. \* *p* < 0.05, \*\* *p* < 0.01, \*\*\* *p* < 0.001.

For H2, H4, and H6, even after statistically controlling for several variables, including COVID-19 information seeking, consuming news via television and social media was related to increased emotional distress (β = 0.099, *p* < 0.001 and β = 0.137, *p* < 0.001, respectively), whereas consuming news via newspapers was not (β = 0.032, *p* = 0.132). Thus, H2 and H6 were supported, but H4 was not.

With respect to H3, H5, and H7, findings indicated that emotional distress was significantly higher among those high in COVID-19 information seeking and television news use (β = 0.046, *p* = 0.033). There was no significant interaction between information seeking about COVID-19 and either newspaper use or social media news use (β = −0.002, *p* = 0.917 and β = 0.017, *p* = 0.393, respectively). This result provides support for H3 but not H5 or H7.

To understand the nature of this interaction, we plotted the interactive relationships between COVID-19 information seeking and television news use. These relationships are presented in Figure 1, which shows that the emotional distress experienced by those seeking COVID-19 information was further amplified among television news consumers. Thus, H3 was supported.

**Figure 1.** Interaction between information seeking and television news usage on emotional distress.

#### **4. Discussion**

The rapid emergence of COVID-19 has caused considerable psychological stress in the global population [2,6,7]. People seek information about the pandemic and follow the news to keep updated. We set out to understand the relationships among information seeking concerning COVID-19, general news media use, and emotional distress during the early stages of the pandemic, with a focus on media modality.

Our primary findings reveal that the more individuals sought COVID-19 information, the more likely they were to be emotionally distressed. Moreover, after accounting for COVID-19 information seeking, consuming news via television and social media was related to increased distress, while consuming newspapers was unrelated to distress. Our moderation analysis revealed that active COVID-19 information seekers who relied on television news were more likely to be emotionally distressed, but the association between COVID-19 information seeking and emotional distress was not amplified by newspaper or social media news use.

These findings contribute to the literature on several fronts. First and foremost, we advanced research on information seeking and emotional response by focusing on information seeking about a novel virus, which has resulted in an unprecedented global burden. The positive association between information seeking and emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic is reflective of this unique situation. It is notable that the positive association between information seeking and emotional distress remained significant when the three news sources were added to the model. There could be multiple possible reasons for these findings. First, while information seeking normally reduces uncertainty [55,56], COVID-19 information seeking likely increases uncertainty and anxiety because answers to basic questions, like when the pandemic will end, how the virus is transmitted, and its specific short-term and long-term impact remain unavailable. Although "ignorance may be bliss" from an emotional standpoint, the emotional distress concerning COVID-19 may be adaptive, possibly increasing protective health measures. In late March, the COVID-19 information available was quite limited, and centered on hand washing and

social distancing recommendations, the lack of personal protective equipment and other medical equipment, and the increasing number of hospitalizations and deaths.

Next, our findings indicated that consuming news via television was related to increased emotional distress. Moreover, our moderation analysis revealed that people who sought COVID-19 information and viewed more television news tended to be even more emotionally distressed. Television's vivid imagery and sound make it an emotionally arousing medium, so television news users may have a higher likelihood of experiencing distress when COVID-19 information seeking. These findings are consistent with previous research showing a strong association between television news and negative emotions during times of crisis, such as September 11 (e.g., [17]) and natural disasters (e.g., [57]). Our results suggest that the effect of television news on negative emotions can be applied to COVID-19.

In addition, our findings indicate that the more people consumed news from social media, the more likely they were to be emotionally distressed. This again could be due to the modality of social media, given it often combines text, audio, and video. The heightened distress among social media news users could also be due to misinformation and exaggeration of risks [53] and unverified contending opinions about an issue, which may heighten uncertainty [58–60]. The political nature of COVID-19 [61] means there is an immense amount of disagreement on social media platforms, extending to the very existence of the virus [62]. In addition, the fact that we found no interaction effects between information seeking and social media use on emotional distress could imply that the distress caused by social media may not be driven by information seeking but by other types of social media uses such as social interactions.

Finally, while we expected that consuming news via newspapers would be related to lower distress, given the less emotionally arousing modality and lesser partisan reporting style, our results revealed no significant association between newspapers and distress. This result could reflect that news users' heightened stress during this pandemic was not accentuated by print media. Taken together, these results suggest that people who relied on television—and to a lesser extent social media—for news were more likely to experience emotional distress concerning COVID-19.

To sum, our findings show that people should be careful about their information gathering habits. We would recommend moderating media exposure because repeated media usage, especially via television news [22,43–46] may lead to heightened stress. Individuals should also take caution while gathering pandemic news from social media. Of course, the pandemic necessitates that we stay updated with the news for our own safety and the safety of those around us, but thoughtful information gathering and news consumption habits will perhaps facilitate better emotional health.

#### *Limitations and Future Directions*

As with all research, our study comes with caveats. Due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, we cannot draw conclusions concerning causal relationships. It is also possible those with more emotional distress are more likely to seek COVID-19 information. Moreover, although we attribute the positive association between information seeking and emotional distress to unique features of COVID-19 information, such as persistent uncertainty, ubiquitous news coverage, and topic unavoidability, it is possible that information seeking could cause higher emotional distress only immediately; in the long-term, the emotional distress could become weak, possibly because people might gain a sense of control. However, prior research shows that in times of crises, information seeking can lead to emotional distress (e.g., [17,21,22,43–46]). Our findings support this phenomenon. Despite our justification, future studies should use longitudinal data to confirm causal relationships.

Related to this, it would be important to statistically control for media use level before the pandemic, since some people might increase their media use at the onset of the pandemic with others' media use remaining static. Similarly, it would be ideal to measure the extent to which emotional distress was changed due to the emergence of the pandemic. Due to the lack of those pre-COVID measures in our dataset, however, we were not able to

add those control variables in our model. Future studies should measure pre-pandemic values for primary behavioral variables to understand the dynamics of behaviors caused by the pandemic.

Additionally, our measurement of emotional distress only tracked those feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and afraid about what might happen. Given that emotional distress can also be linked to feeling depressed, worried, and sad, future studies should encompass more specific emotions with valid measurement. Moreover, we measured COVID-19 information seeking with a single item. Although our item clearly captured the extent of information seeking with regard to COVID-19, future studies should check the validity of the variable using a multi-measure approach that attends to exposure and attention in additional to information seeking. Similarly, while newspapers and news magazines may feature different characteristics, we measured them within an item, not differentiating those two. Also, although television news includes a variety of cable channels, including highly partisan outlets, we measured television news with national news networks. Future studies should define television news more broadly with more robust measurement.
