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Youth Anxiety About Political News
Nicole E Caporino1, Shannon Exley2, Robert D Latzman3
1Department of Psychology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20016, USA. caporino@american.edu.
Child Psychiatry and Human Development
|February 27, 2020
Summary
Youth anxiety about political issues is common, especially concerning the environment and gun violence. Clinical anxiety levels significantly worsen political worries in young people.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Political Psychology
Background:
- Concerns regarding youth anxiety about political issues have increased.
- Understanding the factors associated with this anxiety is crucial for mental health.
- Media coverage of political events may contribute to heightened youth distress.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the prevalence of youth anxiety related to political issues.
- To identify characteristics associated with political anxiety in youth.
- To examine the relationship between political anxiety and psychological functioning.
Main Methods:
- Caregivers (N=374) recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk reported on child's anxiety regarding 15 political issues.
- Child's psychological functioning, including empathy, intolerance of uncertainty, and trait anxiety, was assessed.
- Youth generalized anxiety levels were categorized as clinical or minimal/subthreshold.
Main Results:
- Over 50% of caregivers reported their child worrying about most political issues, with environment and gun violence being most prevalent.
- Youth empathy and intolerance of uncertainty were positively correlated with political worry but not independent predictors after controlling for trait anxiety.
- Youth with clinical generalized anxiety exhibited more severe political worry compared to those with minimal/subthreshold anxiety.
Conclusions:
- Political issues, particularly environmental and gun violence concerns, are significant sources of worry for many young people.
- While empathy and intolerance of uncertainty are related to political anxiety, trait anxiety appears to be a stronger underlying factor.
- Interventions are needed to mitigate the adverse effects of political news on anxious youth, especially those with anxiety disorders.
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