AUTHOR=Mejia Christian R. , Aveiro-Róbalo Telmo Raul , Garlisi Torales Luciana Daniela , Castro Hidalgo Verónica Alejandra Alejandra , Valeriano Jhino , Ibarra-Montenegro David Alfonso , Conde-Escobar Aram , Sánchez-Soto Fernanda , Canaviri-Murillo Yuliana , Oliva-Ponce María , Serna-Alarcón Victor , Vilela-Estrada Martín A. , Arias-Chávez Dennis 

TITLE=Latin American perceptions of fear and exaggeration transmitted by the media with regard to COVID-19: frequency and association with severe mental pathologies

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1037450

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1037450

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the spread of abundant misinformation by the media, which caused fear and concern.</p></sec><sec><title>Objective</title><p>To determine the association between the pathologies of the mental sphere and the perceptions of fear and exaggeration transmitted by the media with respect to COVID-19 in Latin America.</p></sec><sec><title>Methodology</title><p>The present study has an analytical cross-sectional design that is based on a validated survey to measure fear and exaggeration transmitted by the media and other sources (Cronbach's α: 0.90). We surveyed more than 6,000 people, originally from 12 Latin American countries, who associated this perceived exaggeration with stress, depression, and anxiety (measured through DASS-21, Cronbach's α: 0.96).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Social networks (40%) or television (34%) were perceived as the sources that exaggerate the magnitude of the events. In addition, television (35%) and social networks (28%) were perceived as the sources that generate much fear. On the contrary, physicians and health personnel are the sources that exaggerated less (10%) or provoked less fear (14%). Through a multivariate model, we found a higher level of global perception that was associated with whether the participant was older (<italic>p</italic> = 0.002), had severe or more serious anxiety (<italic>p</italic> = 0.033), or had stress (<italic>p</italic> = 0,037). However, in comparison with Peru (the most affected country), there was a lower level of perception in Chile (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), Paraguay (<italic>p</italic> = 0.001), Mexico (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), Ecuador (<italic>p</italic> = 0.001), and Costa Rica (<italic>p</italic> = 0.042). All of them were adjusted for gender and for those having severe or major depression.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>There exists an association between some mental pathologies and the perception that the media does not provide moderate information.</p></sec>