The Mass Media Used by University Students for Becoming Informed about Disaster News and the Effects of Disaster News on Quaternary Victimization: The Example of Burdur Province in Turkey.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of mass media used by university students to become informed about disaster news and the impact of disaster news on quaternary victimization. This is a cross-sectional epidemiological study. The universe of the study consisted of 20,681 students studying at Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, while the sample consisted of 1320 (1290) students. The quaternary effects of disasters on them were measured using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSQW). Independent samples test and One-way ANOVA test were used in the data analysis. When the students watched disaster news in the media, they had worries for Turkey (12.5%), anxiety (11.2%), the thought of what would i do (13.4%), and a desire to help (12.6%). The students often used mass media to become informed about disaster news. The students were directly affected by the news they watched and thus they often felt worry, restlessness, thought about what they would do, and felt a desire to help.