Conservative Media Use and COVID-19 Related Behavior: The Moderating Role of Media Literacy Variables

Porismita Borah, Kyle Lorenzano, Anastasia Vishnevskaya and Erica Austin
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Porismita Borah: Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA
Kyle Lorenzano: School of Communication, Film and Media, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA 30118, USA
Anastasia Vishnevskaya: Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA
Erica Austin: Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-13

Abstract: At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no vaccine to cure or slow its impact due to the novelty of the virus, nor were there were any other standardized measures to handle its spread. Yet, despite the detrimental consequences of the pandemic and its impact on people’s lives, the behavior of individuals to combat the pandemic was not necessarily consistent with official guidelines. To make things worse, the pandemic was highly politicized in countries such as the U.S. With a help of a national survey from the U.S., we examine the associations between media literacy variables and willingness to perform recommended COVID-19 related health behavior. Moreover, we also examine the moderating role of conservative media use in this relationship. Our findings show that conservative media use was negatively associated with these protective behaviors, and that both media literacy variables were positively related with willingness to perform recommended COVID-19 related health behavior. Our results show that media literacy can mitigate some of the impact of conservative media use on individuals. Our findings help understand the complexity of protective behavior against the virus during a highly politicized pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19 protective behavior; media literacy for content; media literacy for source; conservative media use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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