A HOMEMAKER LENS ON MEDIA LED VICARIOUS TRAUMATIZATION DURING COVID-19
Description
H1 – There is a relationship between Media Exposure and Anxiety. H2 – There is a relationship between Media Exposure, Media Vicarious Traumatisation and Anxiety. H3 – Age impacts Media Exposure and Media Vicarious Traumatisation. H4 – Education has an impact on the Media Vicarious Traumatisation and Anxiety. H5 – There is a relationship between Media Exposure and Media Vicarious Traumatisation. H6 – There is a relationship between Media Vicarious Traumatisation and Anxiety. The study examined whether media vicarious traumatization mediates the relationship between media exposure and anxiety. Results indicated that media exposure significantly impacted anxiety, with a stronger effect when media-vicarious traumatization was added as a mediator. The relationship was partially mediated by media vicarious traumatization. Age and education were used as moderators in a SmartPls 4.0 analysis. Results indicate a negative moderation effect of age on the relationship between media exposure and media-vicarious traumatisation (β = -0.311, p < 0.001), and a negative moderation effect of education on the relationship between media-vicarious traumatisation and anxiety (β = -0.09, p < 0.001). Both moderators altered the path coefficients, changing the direction of the relationships.