RAPID:Investigating Media Dependencies, Mitigation Behavior, and Information Processing in the Time Leading up to Hurricane Dorian

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

Considering media dependency and the likely need to reduce uncertainty before making rational decisions, most individuals will seek to acquire information from trusted media sources in the time leading up to, during, and immediately following a large scale disaster. Yet at the same time, little is known about media reliance under conditions of impending crises, and the effect that patterns of information use will have on emotional responses, risk perception, the attention devoted to risk messaging, and motivation to mitigate. While speculated in past research, it is also unclear whether media reliance and negative emotional responses are somehow linked to trait ruminative coping styles, and it is equally unclear if need for cognition motivates information seeking and response. To address these deficiencies in the literature, this study examines the interplay between reliance on media, coping strategies, processing tendencies, risk perceptions, and motivation to mitigate in the context of Hurricane Dorian, which struck the southeastern United States in September 2019. The findings will be useful to researchers hoping to better understand media dependencies during hurricanes, and to emergency management agencies in their consideration of message design and placement. The research fills a significant gap in the social science literature on crisis response by evaluating the links between trait processing characteristics, media use, emotional responses, and mitigation behaviors. The study is an online survey distributed to 1,000 residents of Atlantic coastal areas impacted by Hurricane Dorian. Participants are identified by zip code and drawn from communities in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. They respond to items addressing their trait need for cognition and their tendencies toward ruminative processing. Participants respond to questions on their media dependencies and responses, including the relative importance of varying media in obtaining information about the hurricane, the specific informational outcomes they sought, how they received first alerts, the degree of attention they allocated to these messages, and perceptions of the adequacy of information provided to them by government and media organizations. In terms of behaviors in response to these warnings, participants are asked about any mitigation or evacuation plans they had in place, any damage to their home that occurred, specific coping strategies they relied upon to manage stress associated with the event, their perceptions of the degree of risk associated with the hurricane, and items addressing their emotional well-being before and after the event. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.