A preliminary study of disaster media use as a coping mechanism and the psychological impact of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster.

The 2014 Sewol ferry disaster is the only South Korean mass casualty incident broadcasted in real time and the first instance of the nation collectively experiencing a disaster through social media. Compared to the large body of literature on disaster media as a stressor, its role as a coping tool remains underexplored. We explored the associations between coping styles in disaster media use and the psychological impact of the Sewol ferry disaster among the South Korean general public. A paper-based survey of the nationwide general population ( = 876) evaluated disaster media use from the perspective of the approach-avoidance model of coping and assessed levels of posttraumatic distress and perceived growth. Participants were divided into three groups based on their coping orientation towards the media around the Sewol ferry disaster: approach-oriented (i.e. actively seeking out event-related news;  = 282; 32.2%), avoidance-oriented (i.e. intentionally avoiding event-related news;  = 69; 7.9%), and neutral (neither seeking nor avoiding event-related news;  = 474; 54.1%). The levels of posttraumatic distress and perceived growth were compared between these groups with ANCOVA controlling for age, sex, and/or the date of survey participation. Approach-oriented disaster media use was associated with both elevated posttraumatic distress and perceived growth, while avoidance-oriented disaster media use was associated with elevated posttraumatic distress without significant perceived growth. The neutral group reported the lowest levels of both posttraumatic distress and perceived growth. The findings demonstrated that not posttraumatic distress but perceived growth was the distinguishing factor between the two coping styles in disaster media use. This suggests the potential benefits of approach-oriented disaster media use, considering the salutogenic role of perceived growth in the recovery process. Future longitudinal research is required to determine the predictive role of disaster media use as coping.