Conservative Media Use and COVID-19 Related Behavior: The Moderating Role of Media Literacy Variables

Porismita Borah; Kyle Lorenzano; Anastasia Vishnevskaya; Erica Austin

doi:10.3390/ijerph19137572

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Conservative Media Use and COVID-19 Related Behavior: The Moderating Role of Media Literacy Variables

Journal article

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Peer reviewed

Conservative Media Use and COVID-19 Related Behavior: The Moderating Role of Media Literacy Variables

Porismita Borah, Kyle Lorenzano, Anastasia Vishnevskaya and Erica Austin

International journal of environmental research and public health, Vol.19(13), p.7572

06/21/2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19137572

PMID: 35805227

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Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Public, Environmental & Occupational Health

Science & Technology

COVID-19

Mass Media

Public Health

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no vaccine to cure or slow its impact due to the novelty of the virus, nor were there were any other standardized measures to handle its spread. Yet, despite the detrimental consequences of the pandemic and its impact on people's lives, the behavior of individuals to combat the pandemic was not necessarily consistent with official guidelines. To make things worse, the pandemic was highly politicized in countries such as the U.S. With a help of a national survey from the U.S., we examine the associations between media literacy variables and willingness to perform recommended COVID-19 related health behavior. Moreover, we also examine the moderating role of conservative media use in this relationship. Our findings show that conservative media use was negatively associated with these protective behaviors, and that both media literacy variables were positively related with willingness to perform recommended COVID-19 related health behavior. Our results show that media literacy can mitigate some of the impact of conservative media use on individuals. Our findings help understand the complexity of protective behavior against the virus during a highly politicized pandemic.

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Title: Conservative Media Use and COVID-19 Related Behavior: The Moderating Role of Media Literacy Variables
Creators: Porismita Borah - Washington State University, Strategic Communication, Department of
Kyle Lorenzano - University of West Georgia
Anastasia Vishnevskaya - Washington State University
Erica Austin - Washington State University, Strategic Communication, Department of
Publication Details: International journal of environmental research and public health, Vol.19(13), p.7572
Academic Unit: Strategic Communication, Department of
Publisher: Mdpi
Number of pages: 13
Identifiers: 99901125938601842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article