Doomscrolling and Secondary Traumatic Stress: Psychological Distress and Just World Belief as Potential Mediating...

Doomscrolling, the repetitive consumption of distressing online content, has been linked to heightened emotional strain, yet the psychological processes that may underlie its association with trauma-like outcomes remain less understood. This study examined whether psychological distress and general belief in a just world (GBJW) function as intermediary mechanisms in the association between doomscrolling and secondary traumatic stress symptoms associated with social media exposure (STS-SM). A cross-sectional sample of 235 adults in Singapore completed validated self-report measures assessing doomscrolling behavior, psychological distress, GBJW, and STS-SM. Regression-based mediation analyses indicated that psychological distress was associated with the link between doomscrolling and STS-SM, with indirect pathways observed across depression, anxiety, and stress subdomains. GBJW did not emerge as an independent mediator. However, a sequential pathway was observed: higher levels of doomscrolling were related to greater psychological distress, which was in turn was linked to variations in GBJW, and subsequently to STS-SM. These findings suggest that psychological distress may represent a proximal emotional process, whereas GBJW may function as a conditional cognitive resource mobilized in response to heightened strain. While the cross-sectional design precludes causal inference, the results highlight potential affective and cognitive pathways through which doomscrolling may be linked with trauma-like responses. Future longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to further clarify these mechanisms and to inform strategies for supporting psychological well-being in digitally saturated contexts.