Journalists’ Experiences of Online Harassment: Anxiety, Depression, and Posttraumatic Stress

Online harassment is a pervasive occupational hazard for journalists, often precipitating psychological distress. However, little is known about the specific clinically significant psychological symptoms journalists may experience following online harassment and how it predicts diagnosable clinical disorders. This study examines the relationship between online harassment and (1) scores on validated clinical measures of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress symptoms and (2) probable generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder using established clinical cutoffs among 282 American women journalists. Journalists were recruited through a series of emails, Facebook advertisements, and Facebook posts. They completed an online survey that included questions about demographics, online harassment experiences, and three standardized measures of anxiety (GAD-7), depression (CES-D-10), and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PCL-5). In this sample, 91.5% of journalists reported experiencing at least one instance of online harassment over the past 12 months; 41.8% reported probable generalized anxiety, 67.8% probable depression, and 15.6% probable PTSD. Cumulative online harassment burden predicted higher anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress scores and significantly predicted the odds of meeting the clinical cutoff for probable generalized anxiety disorder and probable PTSD. Interventions designed to target these specific reactions may be useful in treating journalists exposed to online harassment.