📢 New online first article! Does spending more time on smartphone apps change how adolescents feel? And does how they feel shape what they use next? We examined these short-term dynamics using experience sampling and actual smartphone trace data.

📢 New online first article! Can simply looking directly at the camera make a TikTok influencer more politically persuasive? We examined how direct address and media source labels shape responses to political endorsement videos.

📢 New online first article! How are smartphone use and peer relationships linked to depressive symptoms as adolescents grow up? More smartphone use was associated with higher depressive symptoms, while more positive peer relationships were associated with lower depressive symptoms.

📣 Media Psychology, Volume 29, Issue 5 (2026) is now live! From ambient awareness and dating-app decisions to parasocial relationships, online identity, and racial bias in AI, this issue explores how people perceive, interpret, and respond to an increasingly complex media environment.

📢 New online first article! Does seeking support on social media actually improve mental health? Social media allow people to seek and receive support from both close and distant others. Yet the effects of online social support on mental health have remained inconsistent.

📢 New online first article! Is narrative engagement really a single experience? This meta-analysis synthesizes 52 studies (N = 12,705) using the Narrative Engagement Scale (NES) to examine the structure and psychological functions of narrative engagement.

📢 New online first article! Why do studies on evening mobile media use and sleep often report different findings?

📣 Media Psychology, Volume 29, Issue 4 (2026) is now live! From avatars in virtual mirrors to climate fiction, grief support, and political expression online – this issue spans a wide range of current questions in media psychology.

🧐📄 New Research Alert! Can virtual influencers apologize their way out of a scandal? Kim, Lee, Wu, Jang, Kwon, Song, Lee, Park & Lee examined how moral responsibility and trust dynamics differ between virtual and human influencers during endorsement scandals.

🔍 New Research Alert! Why does misinformation stick around even after it's been corrected? 🤔

📣 Exciting news for Media Psychology! We are thrilled to welcome Nuri Kim as our new co-editor!

📢 New publication alert! Do different types of political conflict affect how voters evaluate parties and trust politicians?

📢 New publication alert! How does YouTube use affect young children's social skills?

🧐📄New Research Alert! How do media portrayals of racial and ethnic minorities shape our attitudes? A meta-analysis by Muniba Saleem, Ian Hawkins, Stephen A. Rains, Dana Mastro, and Stewart Coles synthesized 60 studies on the effects of positive and negative media depictions on outgroup evaluations.

📷 Media Psychology, Volume 29, Issue 2 (2026) is now live! 🧵👇

📢 Media Psychology, Volume 29, Issue 1 (2026) is now live! We’re excited to kick off 2026 with the first issue of Media Psychology, featuring new research on media effects, persuasion, digital communication, child development, and technology use.

👶📱 New Research Alert! Does early childhood media use shape later cognitive development? A longitudinal study by Meryem Şeyda Özcan, Yea-Ji Hong, and Koeun Choi examined how early media use predicts later problematic media use and executive function difficulties in children.

📊 New Research Alert! Looking for a faster way to measure parasocial relationships in your research? 🔗 Read more: doi.org/10.1080/1521... #mediapsychology #parasocial #measurement #researchmethods #scales #mediaeffects

🎉 Media Psychology, Volume 28, Issue 6 is now live! We’re excited to share the final issue of Media Psychology for 2025, featuring six new research articles exploring influencer credibility, political polarization, online communication, self-presentation, and children’s media design.

📖 Media Psychology – Recent Issue Highlights Catching up on articles published during Fall–Winter 2025. See the thread below for each paper.

🎥 New Research Alert! Can audiovisual fiction help reduce prejudice against non-binary people?

📰 New Research Alert! Does heavy short-form video use really harm how we engage with news?

🤖 New Research Alert! We’re excited to kick off our first article of 2026 with new insights into AI and fairness. When AI makes decisions, what shapes our sense of fairness and moral responsibility?

🩺 New Research Alert! When does immersive media actually work best in health communication?

🌈 New Research Alert! Can LGBTQ+ media help adults heal and reimagine their past?

New Research Alert! Can immersive technology like VR deepen feelings of awe and create more meaningful media experiences? A new study by Danny Yihan Jia, James J. Cummings, and Junqi Fu examined how technological immersion (VR vs. 2D media) enhances multidimensional awe.

📢 New publication alert! How does coping dispositions (vigilance and cognitive avoidance) affect preferences for fictional versus non-fictional information about climate change?

📢 New publication alert! Can a digital training program effectively improve media sign literacy in 4- to 5-year-old preschool children?

📢 New publication alert! How does the food eaten while consuming media relate to engagement with characters?

📢 New publication alert! What are the cognitive effects of political microtargeting?