Towner, Emily, Callaghan, Bridget, Chu, Kristen, Ladensack, Danielle, To, Michael, and Schwartz, Chloe
Research has suggested that repeated media exposure to community crisis can lead to increased anxiety with downstream effects on health (Garfin et al., 2020). During the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Western Africa, although risk of infection was low in the United States, a nationally representative study showed that heightened media exposure to Ebola-related stories was associated with increased distress and worry (Thompson et al., 2017). Of particular concern during a public health crisis is the potential emergence or exacerbation of health anxiety, which includes elevated perceived likelihood of illness, anticipated negative consequences of having an illness, and attentional deployment toward bodily sensations (Abramowitz et al., 2007). In addition to psychological distress, research has also revealed an association between health anxiety and physical symptoms, such as stomach pain and headaches (Fergus et al., 2019). However, few studies have examined whether health anxiety serves as a mediator between media consumption and somatic symptoms, particularly in the context of a global pandemic. Further, by using both current and retrospective reports, it may be possible to examine the ways that changes in media consumption, changes in health anxiety, and changes in somatic symptoms are related across time, and before and after the onset of a pandemic. In the current study, we seek to examine the relationship between media consumption, health anxiety, and somatic symptoms in the wake of COVID-19.