Mediating effect of depression and acute stress between exposure to Israel-Gaza war media coverage and insomnia: a multinational study from five arab countries

In the context of persistent wars and conflicts worldwide, the impact of acute, excessive and constant exposure to media coverage of such events on mental health outcomes becomes a serious problem for public health, and requires therefore urgent investigation to inform an effective prevention and ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC public health 2024-06, Vol.24 (1), p.1498-1498
Main Authors: Fekih-Romdhane, Feten, Helmy, Mai, Alhuwailah, Amthal, Shuwiekh, Hanaa Ahmed Mohamed, Naser, Abdallah Y, Maalej, Emna, Obeid, Sahar, Cheour, Majda, Hallit, Souheil
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute stress
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Analysis
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression
Depression - epidemiology
Depression, Mental
Disasters
Earthquakes
Exposure
Female
Health aspects
Humans
Hypotheses
Insomnia
Israel - epidemiology
Israel-Arab conflicts
Male
Mass Media - statistics & numerical data
Media
Media coverage
Media exposure
Mediation
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health
Middle Aged
Middle East - epidemiology
Population
Public health
Sampling methods
Sleep
Sleep disorders
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - epidemiology
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - psychology
Social networks
Stress
Stress, Psychological - epidemiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
War
War media coverage
Warfare
Young Adult
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Summary:In the context of persistent wars and conflicts worldwide, the impact of acute, excessive and constant exposure to media coverage of such events on mental health outcomes becomes a serious problem for public health, and requires therefore urgent investigation to inform an effective prevention and management response. The objective of the present study was to test the hypothesis that war-related media exposure is directly and indirectly associated with insomnia through depression and perceived stress among adults from the general population of different Arab countries. A cross-sectional study was carried-out two weeks after the beginning of Israel-Gaza war on the 7th of October 2023. An anonymous online survey and a snowball sampling method were adopted to collect data. A sample of 2635 general population adults (mean age of 23.98 ± 7.55 years, 73.1% females) took part of this study. The results of the mediation analysis showed that, after adjusting over potential confounders, depression and perceived stress fully mediated the association between war media exposure and insomnia; higher war media exposure was significantly associated with higher depression (Beta = 0.13; p 
ISSN:1471-2458
1471-2458
DOI:10.1186/s12889-024-18996-8