The Psychological Impact of Unofficial News on Young Female Adults Attitudes and Perceptions in China

The quick growth of big data media and the extensive adoption of social media in China have had a profound effect on young individuals perspectives and understanding of their surroundings. It is against this background that the paper seeks to investigate the psychological effects of unofficial news media on young individuals attitudes and cognitions in China. Since young individuals between 18-25 years belong to a critical age at which they can have high interactions with their surroundings and form their attitudes, they can easily be affected by the information they receive online. Although there is extensive knowledge offered to determine the effects of information offered in news media on the cognition and attitude of many individuals, there is little attention paid to determine the effects of news media on the cognition and attitude of young individuals. This is because the type of information offered in news media may not always be accurate. This research adopted a substantive method involving six 18-25-year-old young female respondents to determine their attitudes against both formal and informal news media. This paper shall adopt thematic analysis to interpret the data. Among the themes the paper shall adopt include faith in news media with respect to subjective factors, emotional responses to reading informal news media information, effects of formal news media on attitudes towards power influence, and critical thinking skills within prolonged interactions with extensive information offered in formal news media. This paper provides crucial observations with regard to the implications of information offered in media illustrated in media courses. It also spells out the current forces that form the psychological makeup of 18-25-year-old Chinese female adolescents.