Resilience and religiosity as moderators between war-related media exposure and psychotic experiences in the aftermath of the October 2023 Israel-Gaza war

Abstract

After the 7th of October 2023, millions of individuals across the globe have been facing an unprecedented indirect exposure to war and terror through media coverage. Young people exposed to such early, extensive and repeated war-related media content are at increased risk for detrimental psychological consequences, including the development of psychotic experiences (PEs), particularly when mitigating resources are lacking. This study sought to test the hypothesis that resilience and religiosity are involved as moderators in pathways linking early war-related media exposure and PEs in community emerging adults. This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted two to four weeks following the start of Israel's war on Gaza on the 7th of October 2023. Young adults from the general population of Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, and Tunisia (N = 2424) took part in the study through an online survey. The interaction war-related media exposure by resilience was significantly associated with PEs; at low and moderate levels of resilience, more war-related media exposure was significantly associated with higher PEs. This effect was not significant at high levels of resilience. In addition, the interaction war-related media exposure by religiosity was significantly associated with PEs; at low and moderate levels of religiosity, more war-related media exposure was significantly associated with higher PEs. This effect was not significant at high levels of religiosity. Results suggest that individual’s high levels of resilience and religiosity could play a significant role in mitigating possible negative impact of war-related media exposure on the manifestations of PEs.