Doomscrolling: Prospective Associations Between Daily COVID News Exposure, Internalizing Symptoms, and Substance Use Among Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals Assigned Female at Birth

Public Significance Statement Results indicate that when sexual and gender minority individuals assigned female at birth were exposed to more COVID news, they felt more anxious and depressed, were more worried about COVID, and were more likely to turn to substances to cope. Many of these effects persisted into the next day. These findings suggest that it is necessary to balance the need to stay informed about COVID with reducing the mental health effects of COVID news exposure by determining a maximum level of healthy engagement with the media, consuming higher quality media over a larger quantity of media, and determining which media outlets may encourage healthy engagement with COVID news. Cross-sectional studies have demonstrated associations between COVID news exposure, anxiety, and depression. However, longitudinal research examining the directionality of these associations is extremely limited. Further, most studies have focused on the general population and neglected sexual and gender minority individuals (SGM), a population disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. To address these limitations, the current study utilized data from a 30-day diary study of SGM assigned female at birth (N = 429). We examined concurrent and prospective associations between COVID news exposure, depressed and anxious affect, COVID distress, substance use, and motives for use. Further, we examined associations between cumulative COVID news exposure across the diary period and prospective changes in anxiety, depression, and COVID distress. When participants were exposed to more COVID news, they experienced more depressed and anxious affect, more COVID distress, less positive affect, and were more likely to use alcohol and cannabis to cope. Further, when participants were exposed to more COVID news, they experienced subsequent increases in depressed affect, decreases in positive affect, and increases in the likelihood of using cannabis to cope. Findings also provided evidence of bidirectional prospective associations between COVID news exposure and COVID distress and of a cumulative impact of COVID news exposure on anxiety, depression, and COVID distress. Findings suggest that individuals should balance the need to remain informed about the pandemic and their own mental health when considering how much COVID news to consume.