Tel Aviv, Oct 30 (IANS) Exposure to coverage of terrorism on TV seems to impact women more powerfully than men as it spurs negative feelings and moodiness.
Such women also testified to higher levels of feeling threatened compared to the men who viewed the same news reports.
These are the findings of a new study, conducted by the University of Haifa, which examined how men and women reacted to TV exposures, the journal Anxiety, Stress & Coping reports.
Moshe Zeidner, professor in counselling and human development at Haifa, exposed participants to the same events and report on their feelings immediately thereafter, according to a Haifa statement.
Men and women were shown news video clips reporting on terrorist attacks that took place over the past few years and which resulted in serious casualties. In parallel, two other groups of men and women were shown news coverage of ‘regular’, everyday news events.
The study has also found that the feeling of being threatened and loss of resources has an effect on the senses and lead to a higher level of negativity, such as hostility and moodiness.
‘It is possible that the differences between men and women are founded in gender socialisation, ‘teaching’ women to respond to terrorism with more anxiety than men,’ said Zeidner.
