Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic by Using Media: Extending the Coping Goodness-of-Fit Hypothesis to Media Use

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people had to cope with stress in two different ways: engaging in problem-focused behaviors (e.g. seeking information) and regulating their emotions. In particular, during lockdowns, media played an important role in these coping processes. This short-term longitudinal study during the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020 in Germany (N = 348) tested how coping strategies related to two categories of coping effectiveness outcomes, situation-addressing outcomes (preventive behaviors and knowledge) and mental health outcomes (stress and perceived coping efficacy). We moreover tested which kind of media use is related to effective coping derived from a combination of the coping goodness-of-fit hypothesis and mood management theory. The study demonstrated that information seeking during the uncertain pandemic circumstances might have been a double-edged sword: Increased use of the coping strategy information seeking was related to increased stress but also to enhanced knowledge and better adherence to behavioral guidelines, however only on the cross-sectional level. Additionally, our results showed that using positive media content might have helped media users to reduce stress and to adhere to behavioral guidelines. Thus, a combination of seeking information at predefined, limited time points and using positive media content might have been a fruitful way of using media for coping during this situation of crisis.