Veterans and Media: The Effects of News Exposure on Thoughts, Attitudes, and Support of Military Veterans

2021 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2098614
Author(s):  
Scott Parrott ◽  
David L. Albright ◽  
Nicholas Eckhart

The mass media are an important source of information concerning military service personnel and veterans. Veterans, veterans organizations, and others have criticized the mass media for providing the public shallow representations of veterans and military service in which veterans are heroes traumatized mentally and/or physically by their service. Despite the concern, scant research has empirically examined how exposure to such content affects public perceptions of veterans. Using an experiment, this study examined how exposure to news stories of military veterans informed thoughts, attitudes, and support intentions toward veterans. Results suggest short, one-time exposure to stereotypical news stories can lead readers to perceive an increased likelihood veterans will experience post-traumatic stress disorder and, in turn, feel less desire to be socially close with veterans. However, exposure to a story that challenges stereotypical representations of veterans appears to mitigate the effect. In addition, news exposure can influence support intentions related to veterans.

Author(s):  
Kristiana Willsey

Unfortunately, coming to terms with disability and trauma are all too familiar foes for American combat veterans, many of whom receive inadequate, delayed, or nonexistent treatment options upon returning home. We conclude this volume with chapter 10, “Falling Out of Performance: Pragmatic Breakdown in Veterans’ Storytelling,” in which Kristiana Willsey provides new insights into the ways in which U.S. military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan make meaning and process trauma through the sharing of narratives. She argues that naturalizing the labor of narrative—by assuming stories are inherently transformative, redemptive, or unifying—obscures the responsibilities of the audience as co-authors, putting the burden on veterans to both share their experiences of war, and simultaneously scaffold those experiences for an American public that (with the ongoing privatization of the military and the ever-shifting fronts of global warfare) is increasingly alienated from its military. Importantly, Willsey asserts that the public exhortations in which veterans tell their stories in an effort to cultivate a kind of cultural catharsis can put them in an impossible position: urged to tell their war stories; necessitating the careful management of those stories for audiences uniquely historically disassociated from their wars; and then conflating the visible management of those stories with the “spoiled identity” of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


Pedagogika ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-249
Author(s):  
Algirdas Gaižutis ◽  
Jurgita Subačiūtė

Analysing youth aggression topic in the press, it is noted that only statistics of youth aggression cases revealed in the public space is represented. There are no records reflecting the real situation. In this instance, the mass media, which is controlling the thoughts of society, has mostly influence to public attitude formation on youth aggression question. It is often based on stereotypes and myths, in that way representing the vision of distorted reality. The aim of this paper is to ascertain how is represented youth aggression topic in the mass media, and what is its formed image of inseparable from aggression informal groups of young people such as ultras (extreme football fans) and skinheads (nationalist attitude).After having analysed the numbers of daily newspaper Lietuvos rytas (January–December of 2011), 99 articles on youth aggression topic were detected. It is noted, that there are no articles about aggression of young people living in the wealthy and rich families. So the mass media is forming a view, that youth aggression mostly occurs in asocial families, whereas in wealthy families this problem simply does not exist. With regard to the portrayal of youth aggression in Lietuvos rytas, as well as paying attention to the fact that trust in the mass media in Lithuania goes up to 70 percent, we can state that readers form themselves a distorted vision of reality.The most common youth aggression cases represented in the mass media are − younger or peer sexual abuse, as well as a large demonstration of transaggression - aggression used to achieve the objective. Most of the images published in the press are attributed to anger aggression and aggressors are depicted as asocial, intoxicating substances tend to use young people. Analysing Lietuvos rytas (2011), as well as reviewing other newspapers (Lietuvos rytas (2007, 2008), Lietuvos Aidas (2008), Merkio kraštas (2011)) in search of information on Lithuania‘s ultras and skinheads formed image, we have to state that public opinion towards ultras and skinheads is formed mostly not by personal experience (communication, confrontation with them), but by mass media which is the main source of information absorbed by members of the society.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Beti Zafirova ◽  
Sonja Topuzovska ◽  
Julija Zhivadinovik ◽  
Marija Andonova

The main aim of this research was to show the public health aspects of the emergence of post-traumatic stress disorder patients (PTSD) following a traffic accident.


2019 ◽  
pp. 271-287
Author(s):  
◽  
Andrew Lewandowski ◽  
Lindell K. Weaver ◽  
◽  
◽  
...  

Purpose: Military service members often report both affective and vestibular complaints after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), but associations between symptoms and vestibular deficits can be subtle and inconsistent. Methods: From two complementary studies, one of military service members with persistent post-concussive symptoms after mTBI (NCT01611194) and the other of adult volunteers with no history of brain injury (NCT01925963), affective symptoms were compared to postural control, gait, otolith and visuospatial function. Results: The studies enrolled 71 participants with mTBI and 75 normative controls. Participants with mTBI had significantly reduced postural equilibrium on the sensory organization test (SOT), and more so in those with high anxiety or post-traumatic stress. Cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP; oVEMP) showed prolonged latencies in mTBI participants compared to controls; oVEMPs were significantly delayed in mTBI participants with high anxiety, post-traumatic stress or depression. A subset of the mTBI group had abnormal tandem gait and high anxiety. Anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and depression did not correlate with performance on the 6-Minute Walk Test, visuospatial neuropsychological measures, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale in the mTBI group. Conclusions: In this study military service members with mTBI reported affective symptoms, concurrently with vestibular-balance concerns. Worse scores on affective measures were associated with abnormal findings on measures of postural control, gait and otolith function.


Author(s):  
Tiffany A. Beks ◽  
Sharon L. Cairns ◽  
Anusha Kassan ◽  
Kelly D. Schwartz

This article considers three perspectives that have figured prominently in the conceptualization of psychological trauma related to military service in the Canadian context—that of military institutions, that of military members, and that of counselling psychologists. A closer examination of these views reveals points of contention regarding the origins, terminology, and cultural relevance of conceptualizations of service-related trauma, such as post-traumatic stress disorder By drawing from theoretical, empirical, critical, and anecdotal literature, this article highlights the need for counselling psychologists to continually evolve their understanding of the broader contexts in which service-related trauma occurs and to honour military members’ knowledge of diverse sources of traumatic suffering.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105382592110495
Author(s):  
Joanna Ellen Bettmann ◽  
Ileana Anderson ◽  
Joe Makouske ◽  
Adam Hanley

Background: Skepticism of therapy and stigma are significant barriers for veterans with mental health issues. Therapeutic adventure shows promise in addressing veterans’ mental health needs while circumventing the stigma many veterans face in initiating treatment. Purpose: Given the small group model of therapeutic adventure programs, such programs may be ideal to provide social support for veterans and reduce mental health symptomology. The present study investigated: can a brief peer-led therapeutic adventure program modify veterans’ mental health symptoms? Methodology/Approach: The study's sample included 56 participants attending one Sierra Club Military Outdoors trip lasting at least three days and two nights and involving camping. Participants completed study measurements assessing depression, anxiety, stress, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms, substance misuse symptoms, and suicidality at pre-trip, post-trip, one-month post trip, six-months post trip, and 12-months post trip. Six-month and 12-month post-trip data was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings/Conclusions: Results indicated significant reduction in mental health symptomology from pre-trip to post-trip, but showed few longer-term changes in mental health symptomology. Implications: The present study's findings are consistent with research suggesting improvements in overall psychological well-being immediately following a nature-based intervention and suggest the need for on-going, community-based interventions to support optimally military veterans’ mental health.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 336-351
Author(s):  
Barbara Barnett ◽  
Tien T Lee

Post-traumatic stress (PTS) is a common reaction after witnessing a violent event, and individuals who have experienced trauma may relive the event, avoid people or situations that remind them of the trauma, or experience negative thoughts and hyperarousal. When symptoms persist, an individual may receive a medical diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While nearly eight million Americans, including combat veterans, have PTSD in a given year, few studies have explored how the condition is represented in the mass media. This content analysis examines sources’ characterization of PTSD in New York Times articles. Results show that news stories framed PTSD as a long-term problem, with little chance for recovery, a frame that could negatively affect public policy decisions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (25) ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
Kirill V. Aksenov ◽  
◽  
Diana A. Bagdasaryan ◽  

The article is devoted to the issue of communication strategy in the mass media and PR-departments in organizations of various orientations. The authors draw attention to the existing practice of similar, repetitive messages that fill the information space. This complicates the perception of information by the public and makes this process boring and uninteresting. As one way of solving the problem, it is proposed to focus on unique information offers in communications. The authors believe that a wide potential audience is not aware of truly unique information offers of the mass media or PR departments of companies and organizations. A unique information offer is lost in the conditions of the growing tradition to consume news information from the social media feed, subscribing to a large number of public pages, unless these offers are made by popular and well-known companies. For instance, the authors of the article study unique information offers made by the media service of a football club in March-June 2020 in the context of the coronavirus crisis and the absence of matches. This is one of the most popular Russian clubs, well-known even to those Russians who are not football fans. Moreover, the authors also examine the unique information offers of a beauty company, with some of them not directly related to their products. As a result, theauthors suggest that it is worth advertising not only products on external resources, but also unique information offers directly.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 150-161
Author(s):  
Kartika Ayu Ardhanariswari ◽  
Krisnandini Wahyu Pratiwi

The Indonesian government is set to follow through with the plan for five super-priority tourist destinations. The five super-priority tourist destinations are Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Borobudur Temple in Central Java, Mandalika in West Nusa Tenggara, Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara, and Likupang in North Sulawesi. Borobudur temple is known as one of the plans for five super-priority tourist destinations. Managed directly by the Badan Otorita Borobudur, it offers various exciting and different facilities from the others. This study aims to find out the communication strategy carried out by the Badan Otorita Borobudur on Borobudur as a super-priority tourist destination. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen collaboration through Penta helix's synergy (business, government, community, academia, and the mass media). This research uses a case study method; data collection is done by interview and observation. This study indicates that Badan Otorita Borobudur implements several collaboration strategies to introduce Borobudur to the public and with support from the community, academia, and the mass media. From this research, it can be seen that the Badan Otorita Borobudur has carried out the stages of their collaboration strategy well, and the message to be conveyed to the public can be received well. For this reason, the collaborative discussion of the Pentahelix model for the development of Borobudur Temple as one of the super-priority tourism destinations is essential to note. Based on the conclusion of joint activities, it can be seen from the impact of tourism management. The existence of Borobudur tourism is felt to have not had a direct effect on the community's welfare around Borobudur Temple.


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