Stress in the Aftermath of the Economic Crisis in Urban Communities: The Interplay of Media Use, Perceived Economic Threat, and Community Belonging

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the recent financial crisis, we investigate how the interplay of media use, perceived economic threat, and community belonging—conceived as a social support mechanism—impacts stress among urban community residents. Participants (N = 387) were recruited from the New York metropolitan area into an online survey. Results indicated that media do not impact stress directly but rather indirectly by influencing perceived economic threat and community belonging. Community belonging plays a protective role against stress. When perceived economic threat becomes too severe, however, its buffering effects dissipate.

Keywords:

• Community Belonging
• Economic Crisis
• Media Use
• Mental Health
• Perceived Threat
• Social Support
• Stress

Notes

As indicated in Table 3, two of the 11 items did not load much more strongly onto the one, expected dimension (i.e., “subjective” or “objective”) than the other. However, taken together, the results of the EFA suggested that the adapted measure generally reflected the structure of the original measure, as developed and used in earlier studies (e.g., Ball-Rokeach et al., 2001; E. L. Cohen et al., 2002; Kim & Ball-Rokeach, 2006b). In addition, dropping these items from the index did not significantly affect our findings.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew D. Matsaganis

Matthew D. Matsaganis (PhD, University of Southern California, 2008) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY).

Mihye Seo

Mihye Seo (PhD, The Ohio State University, 2007) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY).