The DOI matches its Crossref record; 27 of the 27 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Disaster Media Coverage and Psychological Outcomes: Descriptive Findings in the Extant Research
Open accessAbstract
This review of the literature on disaster media coverage describes the events, samples, and forms of media coverage (television, newspapers, radio, internet) studied and examines the association between media consumption and psychological outcomes. A total of 36 studies representing both man-made and natural events met criteria for review in this analysis. Most studies examined disaster television viewing in the context of terrorism and explored a range of outcomes including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caseness and posttraumatic stress (PTS), depression, anxiety, stress reactions, and substance use. There is good evidence establishing a relationship between disaster television viewing and various psychological outcomes, especially PTSD caseness and PTS, but studies are too few to draw definitive conclusions about the other forms of media coverage that have been examined. As media technology continues to advance, future research is needed to investigate these additional media forms especially newer forms such as social media.
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“Recent research provided extensive evidence that indirect exposure is associated with stress symptoms and other psychopathologies comparable to those linked to direct exposure [13,16,23-27].”
From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [16]
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“A large body of previous research has convincingly established the association between media exposure and symptoms of posttraumatic stress related to various life-threatening stressors, such as war conflicts [9,10], terrorism and other acts of mass violence [11-15], natural disasters [16,17], and recently also the COVID-19 pandemic”
From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [16]
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Cites
A National Survey of Stress Reactions after the September 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks
Schuster, M. A., Stein, B. D., Jaycox, L. H., Collins, R. L., Marshall, G. N., Elliott, M. N., Zhou, A. J., Kanouse, D. E., Morrison, J. L., & Berry, S. H. (2001) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejm200111153452024 · Cited by 1,728
Media’s role in broadcasting acute stress following the Boston Marathon bombings
Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R., & Silver, R. C. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1316265110 · Cited by 513
Television Images and Psychological Symptoms after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks
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Television Images and Probable Posttraumatic Stress Disorder After September 11
Ahern, J., Galea, S., Resnick, H. S., & Vlahov, D. (2004) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000116465.99830.ca · Cited by 192
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Television Watching and the Risk of Incident Probable Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Bernstein, K. T., Ahern, J., Tracy, M., Boscarino, J. A., Vlahov, D., & Galea, S. (2007) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000244784.36745.a5 · Cited by 107
Collimore, K. C., McCabe, R. E., Carleton, R. N., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2007) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.11.002 · Cited by 103
A Snapshot of Terror: Acute Posttraumatic Responses to the September 11 Attack
Cardeña, E., Dennis, J., Winkel, M., & Skitka, L. J. (2005) · Journal of Trauma & Dissociation · doi:10.1300/j229v06n02_07 · Cited by 92
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Mazarello, C. F., & Connor, T. R. (2021) · International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science · doi:10.47772/ijriss.2021.51030
“…disaster media coverage have examined long-term psychological outcomes, including; PTSD, depression, anxiety, stress reactions, and substance use (Pfefferbaum et al., 2014*) In fact we are able to use the judgement of the High Courts of three separate states in India who already ruled against 2…”
Method(2017) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316471289.001
Mechanic, D. (2017) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316471289.002
(2017) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316471289.035
Layug, A., Krishnamurthy, S., McKenzie, R., & Feng, B. (2022) · doi:10.2196/preprints.38589
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Suicidal Ideation of Healthcare Workers During COVID-19: An Ecological Momentary Assessment
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“Research on the relationship between disaster media coverage and psychological health suggests that media coverage has a negative influence on psychological health with no clear clinical or longterm adverse effect (Pfefferbaum et al., 2014).”
BackgroundAutomated Identification of Disaster News for Crisis Management using Machine Learning
Regacho, L. C. C. H., & Canillo, A. M. A. M. C. (2023) · International Journal on Cybernetics & Informatics · doi:10.5121/ijci.2023.120104
Coins of Care: Evaluating the Economic Value of Trauma-Sensitive Schools on a Global ScalePreprint
Singh, O., & Malik, V. (2024) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4784186
The estimate of PTSD symptoms among the residents of violent LOC area of Azad Kashmir
Batool, H. (2024) · Journal of Aggression Conflict and Peace Research · doi:10.1108/jacpr-12-2023-0864
Chen, X., Hu, Y., & Tang, J. (2024) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e32367
“Meanwhile, during disasters, TV news viewing was found to be positively associated with the NGEMs of audiences [56].”
BackgroundDeveloping the Scale of the Social Health Impact of War
FİLİZ, M., & Hattatoğlu, S. (2024) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.1177/00332941241288832
“Exposure to such content through media channels can have negative effects on mental health outcomes and contribute to the prevalence of psychological disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (Holman et al., 2014; Pfefferbaum et al., 2014).”
Facing stress and inflammation: From the cell to the planet
Cavaillon, J., & Chaudry, I. H. (2024) · World Journal of Experimental Medicine · doi:10.5493/wjem.v14.i4.96422
“Watching negative news on TV is an obvious contemporary threat when violence, drug traffic, natural disasters, wars (…) enter the home[75].”
Açıkel, S. S., & Küçükoğlu, S. (2025) · Journal of Infant Child and Adolescent Health · doi:10.64684/jicah.116
Relly, J. E., & Chadha, M. (2025) · Journalism & Communication Monographs · doi:10.1177/15226379251369289
Yoo, W., & Shin, D. (2025) · Asian Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/01292986.2025.2594806
“PTS was chosen as a subject of study because it is the psychological outcome most commonly associated with disaster media coverage (Pfefferbaum et al., 2014).”
González, M. I. M., & Gómez, A. D. (2026) · Revista de Comunicación · doi:10.26441/rc-2025.1-2026-4151
Secondary trauma, empathy and perceived stress in adults: the Bolu hotel fire
Çakıroğlu, İ. N., & AKOĞLU, B. (2026) · Anatolian Current Medical Journal · doi:10.38053/acmj.1872795
Sanden, S., Eid, J., & Hystad, S. W. (2026) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008066.2026.2665506
Şeker, B. D., Bozkurt, T. İ., & Direkçi, E. A. (2026) · Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi · doi:10.53568/yyusbed.1871050
Rebuilding Lives, Not Just Homes: A Capabilities Approach to Post-Disaster Housing Recovery
Puriya, A., & Biswas, A. (2026) · Journal of Human Development and Capabilities · doi:10.1080/19452829.2026.2696845
ten Have, M., Tuithof, M., van Dorsselaer, S., Korteling, S., Shields‐Zeeman, L., & Luik, A. I. (2026) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-026-28377-y
“Direct exposure to geopolitical tension or war can clearly impact mental health [6, 27], but also continuous exposure to media coverage of wars, conflicts, economic crises, and humanitarian disasters may increase anxiety levels [1, 34].”
Ibrahim, F. M., & Shahrour, G. (2026) · Discover Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12982-026-02620-8
“Systematic and descriptive reviews link disaster media coverage to outcomes including stress, anxiety, and intrusive thoughts, particularly when exposure is intense and imagery is graphic [7, 38].”
InfluentialLemanski, J. L., & Crews, G. A. (2026) · American Journal of Criminal Justice · doi:10.1007/s12103-026-09937-9
Development and Validation of the Vicarious War Trauma Scale for the Pakistani Population
Ghayas, S., Abdullah, A., Varrasi, S., Ishfaq, P., Kainat, Platania, G. A., Guerrera, C. S., Boccaccio, F. M., Torre, V., Trosso, M. P., et al. (2026) · Psychiatry International · doi:10.3390/psychiatryint7050208
Digital media engagement and its relationship with depression severity
Syed, A., Preiss, M., Grygarová, D., Podaná, Z., & Horáček, J. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1926446
Levy, I., Razpurker‐Apfeld, I., Shamoa‐Nir, L., & Cohen‐Louck, K. (2026) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1823941
Metadata
- Authors
- Pfefferbaum, B., Newman, E., Nelson, S. D., Nitiéma, P., Pfefferbaum, R. L., & Rahman, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (US)
- University of Tulsa (US)
- Phoenix College (US)
- Corresponding author
- Pfefferbaum, Betty
- Venue
- Current Psychiatry Reports
- Published
- 2014-07-27
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 464-464
- ISSN
- 1523-3812 (ISSN-L)
- 1535-1645
- PMC
- PMC4144190
- OpenAlex
- W2148450146
- Cited by
- 230
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 20.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Current Psychiatry Reports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Oklahoma
- National Institute of Mental Health (R25MH070569)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Communication › Public Relations and Crisis Communication
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Disaster Management and Resilience
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, post-traumatic stress, psychological outcomes, terrorism, media use, depression, anxiety, substance use, natural disasters, man-made disasters, social media
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Mental Disorders, Disasters, Fear, Humans, Mass Media, Stress, Psychological
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