Latent profile analysis reveals how adolescents engage with AI-generated news and its effects on critical thinking dispositions.
As AI-generated news is increasingly widespread in digital journalism, how adolescent readers perceive such content and its impact on critical thinking (CT) dispositions becomes urgent. This study conducted latent profile and network psychometric analyses on nationally representative adolescents (N = 1517) in the Media-User Typology (MUT) framework. We uncovered three distinct reader profiles: minimal engagement group (20.3%), high affirmation group (23.3%), and neutral observation group (55.4%). Sociodemographic variables (senior high school and those in urban areas) predicted the profiles with high perceptions of AI-generated news. In addition, profiles with high perceptions of AI-generated news predicted high CT dispositions (truth-seeking and inquisitiveness, systematicity and analyticity) and a cohesive CT network. We also provided novel insights into effective CT interventions for each profile. These findings offer insights into targeted AI-generated news services, active engagement, and in-depth critical analysis of such information for adolescent readers.
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Zhang et al. (2025) studied this question.
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