Threat through the Screen? Association between Proximity and/or Watching Media Coverage of a Terrorist Attack and Health

Roel Van Overmeire (), Lise Eilin Stene, Marie Vandekerckhove, Stefaan Six, Reginald Deschepper and Johan Bilsen
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Roel Van Overmeire: Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Group, Department of Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1090 Brussels, Belgium
Lise Eilin Stene: Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS), 0484 Oslo, Norway
Marie Vandekerckhove: Faculty of Psychology & Educational Science, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Stefaan Six: Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Group, Department of Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1090 Brussels, Belgium
Reginald Deschepper: Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Group, Department of Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1090 Brussels, Belgium
Johan Bilsen: Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Group, Department of Public Health, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1090 Brussels, Belgium

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: Introduction: After terrorist attacks, media coverage of the attacks is extensive. There are some indications that there is an association between watching the media coverage and certain health reactions, both mental and somatic. Most studies occur in the United States and often months after the initial attack. In the current study, we investigated the terrorist attacks in Belgium on 22 March 2016. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted one week after the attacks among the general population of Belgium. We measured hours of media watching of the terrorist attacks (hereafter media watching), adjusted scales of the Patient Health Questionaire-4 (PHQ-4) to measure mental symptoms and the Patient Health Questionaire-15 (PHQ-15) to measure somatic symptoms, proximity to Brussels (home, work and overall proximity) and background factors such as gender, age and level of education. Respondents were included if they answered the survey between 29 March 2016 and 5 April 2016. Results: A total of 2972 respondents were included. Overall, media watching was significantly associated with both mental symptoms ( p < 0.001) and somatic symptoms ( p < 0.001), while controlling for age, gender, level of education and proximity. Watching more than three hours of media was associated with more mental and somatic symptoms ( p < 0.001). Compared to proximity, media watching was, in general, a better association. For geographical factors, watching more than three hours of media indicated equally high scores for mental symptoms and somatic symptoms as work proximity ( p = 0.015) and overall proximity to the attacks ( p = 0.024). Conclusion: Media-watching is associated with acute health reactions after terrorist attacks. However, the direction of the relationship is unclear, as it might also be that people with health issues seek out more media.

Keywords: terrorism; mental health; media; somatic health; proximity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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