Media exposure to mass violence events can fuel a cycle of distress
Open accessAbstract
= 4165). Data were collected shortly after the bombings, 6 and 24 months post-bombings, and beginning 5 days after the Pulse nightclub massacre (approximately 1 year later; 36 months post-bombings). Bombing-related media exposure predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) 6 months later; PTS predicted worry about future negative events 2 years after the bombings, which predicted increased media consumption and acute stress following the Pulse nightclub massacre 1 year later. Trauma-related media exposure perpetuates a cycle of high distress and media use.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In a longitudinal study following 2 terrorist attacks, trauma-related media exposure perpetuates a cycle of high distress and worry, leading to increased subsequent trauma-related media consumption, which further promotes increased distress.
“Such a pattern has been confirmed in a recent longitudinal study following 2 terrorist attacks: trauma-related media exposure perpetuates a cycle of high distress and worry, leading to increased subsequent trauma-related media consumption, which further promotes increased distress [143].”
From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [143]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe pattern of extensive media exposure perpetuating stress and psychopathology is particularly characteristic of social media use.
“and this pattern is particularly characteristic of the use of social media [27,74,142-145].”
From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [143]
The Discussion (page unavailable) describes a cycle in which repeated trauma-related media exposure may heighten distress and mental-health risks. Materials and Methods (page unavailable) shows that social media was included alongside television, radio, and online news in a composite exposure measure; the paper does not establish that the pattern is particularly characteristic of social media. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPeople in uncertain situations, such as disaster events or pandemics, seek information via media to alleviate negative feelings.
“a substantial body of research indeed confirms that people in uncertain situations, such as disaster events or pandemics, seek information via media to alleviate negative feelings”
From Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: Narrative-Based Perspective. (2025) · cites this paper as [143]
The Introduction (page unavailable) says that people anxious about collective traumas may seek media information to mitigate anxiety and uncertainty. It also mentions Ebola-related media exposure, but does not establish that people in pandemics seek media information for that purpose. The citing sentence’s claim that research “confirms” the behavior is stronger than the paper’s “suggests” and “may.” (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 35 · Cited by 209
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [25]R. C. Silver, E. A. Holman, D. N. McIntosh, M. Poulin, V. Gilrivas, J. Pizarro, B. Raphael, in 9/11: Mental Health in the Wake of Terrorist Attacks, Y. Neria, R. Gross, R. Marshall, E. Susser, Eds. (Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 45–70.
- Authors
- Thompson, R. R., Jones, N. M., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Princeton University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Silver, Roxane Cohen
- Venue
- Science Advances
- Published
- 2019-04-05
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- eaav3502-eaav3502
- ISSN
- 2375-2548 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6469939
- OpenAlex
- W2939383379
- Cited by
- 209
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 29.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Science Advances (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (BCS-1342637, BCS-1451812, BCS-1650792)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- mass violence, media exposure, post-traumatic stress, Pulse nightclub shooting, Boston Marathon bombing, acute stress, post-traumatic stress disorder
- MeSH terms
- Psychological Distress, Adult, Aged, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Mass Media, Middle Aged, Models, Theoretical, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Violence
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
