Haley Meskunas’s research while affiliated with University of California System and other places

Background Media exposure to mass violence incidents (MVI) is related to distress in the general public not directly exposed to these tragedies. However, limited attention has focused beyond this relationship. Objective This cross-sectional study explores the influence of media exposure to MVI on parenting behaviors among parents of children ages 5-18 years old. Methods Parents (N=359; 60.4% female) were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform to complete a survey of parenting behaviors, mental health, media exposure to MVI (time spent viewing media coverage of MVI, and initial emotional reactions to the media coverage) for two MVIs, and prior trauma. Hierarchical multiple regression models were conducted for each parenting behavior. The moderating influence of sex, child age, and prior trauma were explored. Results Media exposure to MVI was not related to instilling autonomy or parental discipline, but had some significant relationships to other parenting behaviors, that depended on parental sex, and sometimes child age and parent prior trauma. For females, emotional reactions to media exposure to MVI was significantly associated with several parenting behaviors, sometimes directly, sometimes moderated by age or prior trauma, but time spent viewing was not significantly related. For males, there were fewer significant relationships to parenting behavior. Initial emotional reactions of anger and sadness to media coverage increased positive parenting, whereas initial anxious reactions increased ignoring. Time viewing media coverage of MVI decreased harsh punishment, but there was variability by child age. Conclusion Media exposure to MVI may influence some aspects of parenting and there is a need for more research.

Although families can be a source of support post-disaster, depending on how they communicate about their stress, their attempts at support can be helpful or harmful. This study explored the moderating role of topic avoidance and co-rumination on post-disaster mental health (MH) in a sample of 485 parent-child dyads following severe floods affecting Texas. Parents (69.0% female) and their oldest child between the ages of 10–19 years (M = 13.75 years, SD = 2.56) completed online surveys approximately one-year post-flooding. Participants reported their flood exposure, life stressors since the disaster, topic avoidance, co-rumination, and MH symptoms (posttraumatic stress symptoms [PTSS], depression, anxiety). Structural equation models tested a moderated-mediation model of whether communication processes moderated the associations of flood exposure and life stressors on MH. They did not moderate the association of flood exposure to PTSS, but did have a moderating role for depression and anxiety. At low levels of topic avoidance, there was no association between flood exposure and child anxiety or depression. However, at mean and high levels of topic avoidance, there was a significant, positive association between flood exposure and child anxiety and depression. Co-rumination impacted both parents and children. For parents, there was no association between flood exposure and depression or anxiety when co-rumination was low or mean-level. However, flood exposure increased risk for depression and anxiety at high levels of co-rumination. A similar pattern emerged for children. Results for life stressors were nuanced. Overall, this suggests that communication can influence post-disaster MH.

Although most sexting among adolescents occurs in the context of a dating relationship, less is known about adolescents’ motivations to sext and the emotional experience of sexting within dating relationships. The current study surveyed 947 high school students about their sexting behaviors, motivations to sext, and emotional reactions to sexting requests from dating partners. Although both girls and boys reported sexting behaviors, girls were more likely to report receiving pressure to sext and negative emotional responses to sexting requests from a dating partner. Among girls, greater self-sexualization, lower religiosity, perceiving peer sexting as more common, and being older predicted more positive emotional reactions to sexting requests from a partner. Greater attachment anxiety, lower self-sexualization, greater religiosity, and being younger predicted more negative emotional reactions for girls. Among boys, lower attachment avoidance, greater self-sexualization, and lower religiosity predicted more positive emotional reactions to sexting requests. Only lower levels of self-sexualization predicted negative emotional reactions to sexting requests for boys. These findings support that sexting is a gendered experience for adolescents in dating relationships and that although most sexting between partners is wanted, certain adolescents may be more at risk for experiencing negative consequences from sexting.

Social Cognitive Theory asserts that trauma history may leave survivors vulnerable to new stressors affecting self-regulation where coping self-efficacy (CSE) is a key factor. The present study (N = 93) aimed to assess the relative influence of trauma history, exposure to the disaster, and CSE on PTSD over time in a sample of California wildfire survivors (62% female, Mage = 42.96). We hypothesized that trauma history would be predictive of PTSD at 6 weeks and this relationship would be mediated by CSE, which was confirmed using hierarchical linear regression and Hayes mediation. Trauma history and disaster exposure significantly predicted PTSD in step one controlling for time since disaster, F(3, 74) = 18.60, p < .001, R2 = 43%. The inclusion of CSE in step two significantly explained an additional 25% of the variance in PTSD, F(4, 73) = 38.79, p < .001. Mediation analysis revealed a significant indirect effect of CSE on the relationship between trauma history and PTSD, B = 0.70, SE = .17 [95% CI: 0.374, 1.048]. Greater trauma history predicted decreased CSE, which in turn predicted greater PTSD symptoms. This study highlights the importance of trauma history and targeting CSE in recovery with disaster survivors.

Objective: Researchers have studied the influence of media exposure to acute mass violence (e.g., terror attack, mass shooting, etc.) on distress in populations not directly experiencing the trauma; however, the field has yet to achieve consensus on the measurement of media exposure. There has been a rapidly changing media environment since this body of research began, with the rise of social media. To address this, we developed a measure using the most relevant items from media exposure surveys and accounting for evolving social media. Method: We asked a sample of youth and adults (N = 1,249), ages 14 - 59 years old, about average time spent consuming news in general, time spent viewing coverage of specific terror attacks, and their emotional reactions to the media coverage. Results: A confirmatory factor analysis specifying a 3-factor model was run on a subsample of the data (n = 308), and the data fit the model well, χ2(17) = 30.799, p < .05, root mean square error of approximation = .051 [90% confidence interval = .020, .080], comparative fit index = .989, and standardized root mean square error of approximation = .043. Measurement invariance was examined on the remainder of the participants (n = 937) to determine whether the model was invariant across participant sex. Conclusion: Analyses support that the factor structure of the measure was consistent across male and female participants. Implications on measuring media exposure to acute mass violence will be discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Few studies explore how the recovery context following an episode of mass violence affects posttragedy mental health (MH), despite clear implications for developing posttrauma supports. Following a mass murder, this prospective, longitudinal study examined how reactions to media coverage, family reactions, and disappointment in social support influenced posttragedy MH (posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety), above and beyond the influence of pretragedy MH, pretragedy victimization, and objective exposure. University students who participated in a study of college adjustment prior to the mass murder (n = 593) were recontacted and provided information on their posttragedy life (n = 142). Students (n = 84) also responded to open-ended questions about what was the most stressful part of the tragedy and psychological effects of the mass murder. After accounting for pretragedy victimization and MH, and objective exposure to events, hierarchical regression analyses indicated that distress related to media coverage and stronger family reactions contributed to higher levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms and anxiety, but not depression. Disappointment with social support was not significantly related to posttragedy MH. Common themes in student comments include grief, feeling vulnerable/unsafe, concern for the impact on others, stress related to media coverage, proximity to the events, changes in psychosocial adjustment, and returning to daily life. Results suggest that negative reactions to media coverage and family reactions that are overprotective or distressing negatively affect survivors’ MH, beyond their objective exposure to the violence, pretragedy MH, and pretragedy victimization.