Doomscrolling, Resilience and Psychological Distress during Uncertainty

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between doomscrolling, resilience, and psychological distress among university students during periods of uncertainty.  Doomscrolling refers to the repetitive consumption of negative or distressing information through social media and other online platforms.  The study aimed to investigate whether doomscrolling was positively associated with psychological distress, whether resilience was negatively associated with psychological distress, and whether doomscrolling and resilience significantly predicted psychological distress.  A sample of university students was assessed using the Doomscrolling Scale, Brief Resilience Scale, and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale.  Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among the study variables.  The findings showed a significant positive relationship between doomscrolling and psychological distress (r = .22, p < .01), indicating that greater doomscrolling was associated with higher psychological distress.  Participants who were more resilient reported lower levels of psychological distress, as evidenced by the negative correlation between resilience and psychological distress (r =.45, p.01). Doomscrolling and resilience were found to significantly predict psychological distress in multiple regression analysis, with the model accounting for 2.1% of variance (R2 =.021). Overall, the findings suggest that excessive consumption of negative online information may be associated with increased psychological distress, whereas resilience may represent an important psychological resource associated with lower distress.  The results emphasize the significance of promoting healthy digital media habits and strategies for building resilience among college students.