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This study examined the links between COVID-19 psychosocial stressors, ethnic discrimination, COVID-19 fears, and their combined effects on mental health outcomes among U.S.-based Latinx college students (N = 148; Mage = 20.68, SD = 2.53). Findings showed that sleep and eating disturbances, emotional distress, and work disruptions were linked with fear of contamination, fear of social distancing, and fear of pandemic impact. Further, ethnic discrimination was found to uniquely contribute to COVID-19 fears above and beyond COVID-19 psychosocial stressors. Finally, COVID-19 emotional distress and COVID fear of pandemic impact were significantly linked to anxiety and depression symptomatology. Recommendations for practice and future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the association of anticipatory negative consequences related to the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of Latinx young adults. Data are from a community-based study with first- and second-generation immigrant, Latinx young adults (18–26 years old). Participants completed an online survey about mental health and anticipated personal and family-related consequences due to the pandemic. Regression models examined the effects of anticipated consequences on risk of clinically significant mental health symptoms. Latinx young adults anticipated moderate levels of negative consequences during the pandemic, including expected illness, economic strain, and psychosocial concerns. Anticipating psychosocial concerns was associated with serious psychological distress, whereas anticipating economic hardship had a limited effect on somatization and anxiety symptoms. Probability of contracting COVID-19 illness was not associated with mental health symptoms. Addressing the anticipation of negative consequences is important because these consequences threaten mental health and wellbeing. Strategies are needed to alleviate continuing pandemic-related stressors among Latinx communities to promote mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cable news makes it possible for consumers to avoid information that challenges their predispositions, and the Internet makes it even easier. Cable news consumption is related to attitude extremity, but the extant literature is absent empirical examination of how the two may work together. Objectives: This study aims to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between media consumption and policy attitude extremity. In particular,, it asks how digital media consumption may combine with cable or traditional mass media to drive higher levels of polarization and attitude extremity. Methods: We use American National Election Studies and data reduction methods to model and measure the gathering of political information to compare the relationship between different forms of media consumption and policy attitude extremity. Results: Our results indicate that, independently, the consumption of both "partisan" cable news and "non‐partisan" political digital information have the same positive relationship to attitude extremity across four major issue domains (economy, federal spending, social issues, and foreign affairs) and that when combined into a single index, the relationship is stronger than their independent relationships. Finally, the results suggest that the combined effect is strongest among those who consume more liberal cable news. Conclusion: Our high choice media environment contributes to the polarized climate in the United States today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has disrupted the wellbeing of the general US population, but even more so among Latinx young adults. The current study provides a detailed picture of the emotional wellbeing and coping of Latinx young adults during the first summer of the pandemic. Six virtual focus groups (n = 21) were conducted between May and August of 2020 with a community‐based sample of Latinx young adults to explore (1) how the pandemic affected wellbeing and (2) how they coped with pandemic‐related stress. Contextualistic thematic analysis identified important themes and subthemes. Perceived stressors impacting emotional wellbeing yielded one overarching theme: COVID‐related disruptions in the participants' environment. To manage this heightened stress, another overarching theme was self‐care and intentionality during the pandemic. Future studies should examine the wellbeing of young adults across social contexts and at more recent stages of the pandemic. Findings from this study suggest culturally‐ and developmentally‐tailored interventions are needed as this population navigates contextual stress during a sensitive period in their life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a considerable body of research suggesting that social media may be a primary vehicle for both the dissemination of politically dissident information and for organizing protest activity in contexts of weak governance. Researchers are beginning to focus on building a more nuanced understanding of how new media shape these processes. Using original survey data from the Philippines, we offer the first large N individual level study to directly examine the relationship between religion, social media exposure, and political protest. Specifically, we argue that the degree to which citizens support religious leaders' authority in politics can mitigate the effects dissident flows of information on social media have on their inclination to protest, at least in an environment characterized by hierarchical religious authority structures and limited religious endorsement of widespread protest. The evidence we present supports the theoretical claim that support for religious authority can at times dampen the link between critical social media and public protest. We discuss the implications of these results for the broader study of governance, technology and religious authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academia, in much of the world, has long been disproportionately populated by men. This pattern, at least in the social sciences, may be changing. We explore the shifting gender gap in political science in Kazakhstan, and then set out to explore potential determinants of the changes as well as the resulting employment patterns. We use time-series data to demonstrate that a rising GDP, shifting fertility rates, occupational prestige and a growing population are related to the increase in the number of women entering political science in Kazakhstan, which, nevertheless, has not resulted in employment parity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that people are motivated to avoid information that challenges their predispositions. They seek out attitude-consistent information, leading to more extreme attitudes. While research suggests that the Internet facilitates this selective exposure more easily than traditional media, there is little evidence that it contributes to issue attitude extremity, and even less outside the Western context. We seek to fill that gap using survey data from the Arab Barometer. Our results indicate that digital information consumption consistently predicts issue attitude extremity, but some part of that relationship is mediated by political attentiveness. These results have tangible implications for understanding the complex relationship between public opinion and governance in societies with limited or absent democratic structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survey research focused on the effects of social media (SM) on protest behavior outside Western democracies is limited. In response, we designed and conducted a large N face-to-face survey in the Philippines, where pro-government elite families control the traditional press, but the same constraints do not apply to SM. This helps us to isolate SM effects on protest behavior since the online environment in the Philippines is one of the few places where there is an open flow of information. Adding gradations to common indicators of SM consumption (by measuring general SM use, political SM use, and the exchange and consumption of dissident information on SM) helps clarify the mechanism by which SM influence protest behavior. Our results indicate that online exchanges of dissident information have a stronger connection to protest behavior than general or even political SM use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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