ArticlePsychiatry investigation2026
Interactive Media Engagement Predicts Posttraumatic Distress After Community Trauma: A National Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.
Article in Psychiatry investigation, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveMedia 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.
methodsA 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.
resultsInteractive 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.
conclusionPosttraumatic 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.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.