Daily news and negative affect: the influence of personal relevance, social support and locus of control

Exposure to daily news can have a negative impact on one’s state of mind, even when the news is not very negative or severe, especially when people feel it personally affects them. However, not enough is known about this phenomenon and especially why some people are more affected than others. Two studies looked at the direct and indirect effects of daily exposure to everyday news on negative affect using Experience Sampling Methodology. Study 1 additionally looked at the effect of personal relevance and social support, whereas Study 2 focused on personal relevance and locus of control. Both studies showed a positive relationship between news valence and negative affect, which was moderated by personal relevance. In addition, personal relevance had the biggest impact when social support was low, but no effects for locus of control were found. Even though our studies shed some more light on the negative impact of daily news, further research is needed to identify which people are most at risk for negative consequences of news exposure.