Women more affected by TV terror coverage

Women are more affected than men by watching television coverage of terrorism, researchers in Israel found. Moshe Zeidner and Hasida Ben-Zur, both of the University of Haifa, had previously found viewing television coverage of terrorism causes viewers to lose psychological resources -- such as the sense of feeling significant or successful -- and causes a feeling of being threatened. Men and women were shown news video clips reporting on terrorist attacks that took place in recent years that resulted in serious casualties. Two other groups of men and women were shown news coverage of everyday news events. The study, scheduled to be published in Anxiety, Stress & Coping, found women who viewed terrorism coverage testified to higher levels of feeling threatened and lower levels of psychological resources compared to men who viewed the same news reports. The gender differences were not found among the control groups. The study found the feeling of being threatened and loss of resources has an effect on the senses and leads to a higher level of negativity, such as hostility and moodiness.