Open Access

ARTICLE

Media Coverage of Terrorism and Mental Health Concerns among Youth: Testing Moderated Mediation by Spirituality and Resilience

by Mian Ahmad Hanan^1,*, Arooj Arshad², Noshina Saleem³, Shamaila Asad²

1 York University, Toronto, Canada
2 Riphah Institute of Clinical and Professional Psychology, Riphah International University, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan
3 Institute of Communication Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan

* Corresponding Author: Mian Ahmad Hanan. Email:

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2021, 23(4), 565-575. https://doi.org/10.32604/IJMHP.2021.011168

Received 16 June 2020; Accepted 21 December 2020; Issue published 28 October 2021

Abstract

Previous research on media coverage of terrorism and its associated psychological consequences was explored internationally particularly after 9/11 attacks in the US. Also, the constructive role of resilience in this traumatic era has also been explored internationally. However, some studies have been conducted on the effect of media coverage of national terrorism on people that have endured a nearby terrorist attack. Moreover, knowledge about how the media coverage of terrorism, as a secondary source of evidence, can have devastated effects on native’s mental health and how resilience work in this relationship is rather limited. For example, it is possible that different cultures have their own coping strategies (resilience & spirituality) to be adopted as they perceive and respond to terrorism coverage on media differently. Hence, this study examines the moderated role of spirituality as an adaptive mechanism along with resilience as a mediating factor in the relationship between media coverage of terrorists’ incidents and mental health concerns such as perceived stress, generalized anxiety and perceived fear among Pakistani youth. The findings show significant results as expected, people having high level of spirituality effectively cope with the media coverage of terrorist incidents by facing the situation with more resilient personality and therefore experience less mental health concerns compared to those with low level of spirituality.

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Keywords

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