Mental Health Effects of COVID-19 Media Exposure Are Amplified in the United States Compared to Italy

Background: Prolonged media exposure is widely shown to have adverse effects on people’s mental health. Do these effects show variation across different countries? In the present study, we compared the link between media exposure and mental health-related outcomes in the United States and Italy, two countries with high levels of early COVID-19 prevalence. Method: Participants matched on age and gender in the United States (n = 415) and Italy (n = 442) completed assessments of media exposure, stress, anxiety, COVID-19 worry, and other variables in August 2020. Results: Media exposure was strongly linked with stress, anxiety, and COVID-19 worry, net of the effects of neuroticism, political identification, and demographics. We also observed Country x Media exposure interactions in the prediction of stress and COVID-19 worry. Media exposure more strongly predicted stress and COVID-19 worry in the United States than Italy. Conclusions: Findings are among the first to document cross-national differences in the impact of media exposure.