Media Coverage of Terrorism: A Meta-Analytic Assessment of Media Use and Posttraumatic Stress

Abstract

This meta-analysis integrates twenty-three studies of media coverage of terrorism and posttraumatic stress (PTS) to examine cumulative effect and potential moderators. Overall, a significant effect size (r = .152) for exposure to coverage of terrorism and PTS was found. Studies assessing PTS symptoms/reactions found greater effect sizes than studies assessing PTS disorder; studies assessing multiple media were associated with greater effects than those limited to television; youth samples yielded greater effects than adult samples; and studies of samples located farther away found greater effects than those of samples in the same city as the event.