Interactive Media Engagement Predicts Posttraumatic Distress After Community Trauma: A National Repeated...

Media engagement is an important pathway for indirect exposure to community trauma, but little is known about how interactive platforms and meaning-making relate to posttraumatic psychological outcomes. This study examined whether different types of media usage, particularly interactive online engagement, predict acute and subacute posttraumatic distress following a communitylevel traumatic event.

A two-wave nationwide repeated cross-sectional survey was conducted 2 weeks (n=1,703) and 2 months (n=2,220) post-incident, using stratified quota sampling. Depressive, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. Analyses included chi-square tests, analysis of covariance with Bonferroni correction, and multivariable regression models.

Interactive engagement correlated with elevated psychological distress at both time points. At 2 months, receiving information through online communities and sharing graphic content predicted greater symptom severity and higher odds of clinically significant depressive, anxiety, and PTS symptoms. Passive exposure to graphics was not associated with elevated distress and was linked to lower symptom prevalence. Personal relevance to victims and systemic attribution were also significant predictors, with media types showing clearer differences at 2 months.

Posttraumatic distress following community trauma appears to be shaped more by patterns of interaction with trauma-related information than by visual exposure. Interactive online engagement may amplify psychological symptoms over time, highlighting the need for public health strategies that address interactive media environments.