Table 2.
Changes in affective tone of recent news coverage exposure predicts mental health symptoms and startle modulation controlling for age, gender, and neuroticism.
| Outcome | B | SE | t-ratio | df | p | Cohen's d |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS | ||||||
| B00 (Intercept) | 3.57 | 0.27 | 13.29 | 90 | <0.001* | 2.80 |
| B10 (Affective tone) | −4.87 | 1.93 | 2.52 | 87 | 0.014* | 0.54 |
| B11 (Age) | 0.08 | 0.20 | 0.38 | 87 | 0.705 | 0.08 |
| B12 (Gender) | 1.50 | 3.34 | 0.45 | 87 | 0.655 | 0.10 |
| B13 (Neuroticism) | 1.98 | 3.31 | 0.60 | 87 | 0.552 | 0.13 |
| DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS | ||||||
| B00 (Intercept) | 2.71 | 0.24 | 11.43 | 90 | <0.001* | 2.41 |
| B10 (Affective tone) | −4.13 | 1.71 | 2.42 | 87 | 0.018* | 0.52 |
| B11 (Age) | 0.17 | 0.19 | 0.87 | 87 | 0.390 | 0.19 |
| B12 (Gender) | 2.07 | 2.90 | 0.72 | 87 | 0.477 | 0.15 |
| B13 (Neuroticism) | 1.42 | 3.19 | 0.45 | 87 | 0.657 | 0.10 |
| ANXIETY SYMPTOMS | ||||||
| B00 (Intercept) | 3.89 | 0.35 | 10.84 | 90 | <0.001* | 2.29 |
| B10 (Affective tone) | −2.72 | 2.69 | 1.01 | 87 | 0.314 | 0.22 |
| B11 (Age) | 0.11 | 0.31 | 0.37 | 87 | 0.711 | 0.08 |
| B12 (Gender) | 5.86 | 4.41 | 1.33 | 87 | 0.187 | 0.29 |
| B13 (Neuroticism) | −1.50 | 4.24 | 0.35 | 87 | 0.724 | 0.08 |
| STARTLE MODULATION | ||||||
| B00 (Intercept) | −0.41 | 0.59 | 0.69 | 90 | 0.491 | 0.15 |
| B10 (Affective tone) | −7.14 | 3.03 | 2.36 | 87 | 0.020* | 0.65 |
| B11 (Age) | 0.37 | 0.26 | 1.41 | 87 | 0.161 | 0.30 |
| B12 (Gender) | 0.57 | 6.44 | 0.09 | 87 | 0.930 | 0.02 |
| B13 (Neuroticism) | 6.30 | 4.94 | 1.28 | 87 | 0.205 | 0.27 |
All models were of the general form: Ŷwi = π0i + π1i(Xwi) + ewi, where π0i = B00 + r0i and π1i = B10 + B11(Agei) + B12(Genderi) + B13(Neuroticismi) + r1i; Ywi refers to the outcome variable (i.e., physical symptoms, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or startle modulation) collected at the in-lab session for wave (w) nested within participant (i); Xwi refers to the affective tone of news coverage to which participant i reported being exposed in the two weeks prior to their in-lab session within wave (w); ewi refers to the wave-level error, B00 and B10 refer, respectively, to population-value estimates for the intercept and slope linking the affective tone of recent news coverage exposure to the outcome variable controlling for all other variables (i.e., age, gender, neuroticism); B11, B12, and B13 refer, respectively, to population-value estimates for the change in the slope of B10 as a function of age, gender (dummy-coded), and neuroticism; r0i and r1i refer, respectively, to the participant-level variability in the intercept and slope values (i.e., across-participant variability). Model coefficients are unstandardized.
p < 0.05.