The Complex Media Effects on Civic Participation Intention Amid COVID-19 Pandemic: Empirical Evidence from Wuhan College Students

Xueyan Li (), Ping Fu () and Min Li
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Xueyan Li: School of Sociology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Ping Fu: School of Sociology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
Min Li: College of Marxism, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-15

Abstract: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, media exposure is crucial to motivate public action for the combat with COVID-19 pandemic. However, media effects on civic participation intention are understudied. This study applied the Differential Susceptibility to Media effects Model (DSMM) to explore the relations among Wuhan college students’ media use, their pandemic-relevant beliefs, and civic participation intention, with a focus on the possible mediation of pandemic-relevant beliefs. Data of 4355 students from a large-scale cross-sectional survey were analyzed. Results show that traditional media use and online media interaction both directly and indirectly affect civic participation intention via pandemic-relevant beliefs. Pandemic-relevant beliefs distort the relations that direct and indirect effects of new media use on civic participation intention are significant but in opposite directions. The influence of pandemic news on civic participation intention is entirely mediated by pandemic-relevant beliefs. To conclude, during pandemic, the role of traditional media use is unreplaceable in its direct and indirect impact on civic participation intention. Pandemic-relevant beliefs play as a distorter variable. The balance between overexposure and insufficiency of pandemic-relevant news is vital. Online media interaction, as a main trait of new media use, plays a crucial role in civic participation intention, directly and indirectly.

Keywords: media effect; media use; pandemic-relevant beliefs; civic participation intention; college students (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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