Distinct motivational factors shape news-seeking in young adults

O’Donoghue, Ellen M., Eschmann, Kathrin C. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9537-3947, Tsujimura, Hikaru, Crawford, Bonni, Caswell, David, Oosterwijk, Suzanne and Gruber, Matthias J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2754-0520 2026. Distinct motivational factors shape news-seeking in young adults. Scientific Reports 16 (1) , 19879. 10.1038/s41598-026-39354-1

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Abstract

Researchers and news providers have increasingly aimed to identify the distinct motivational factors that promote news-seeking behaviour. However, existing theoretical approaches are rarely data-driven and existing media strategies have not been empirically tested. Here, we created 24 questionnaire items capturing a range of motivations that might support active news-seeking among an undergraduate sample (Study 1). Through factor analysis, we identified three distinct motivational factors: ‘Informational Updating’, ‘Understanding & Sense-Making’, and ‘Affect Regulation’. Among these factors, ‘Informational Updating’ was most strongly predictive of young adults’ news-seeking frequency. Furthermore, this relationship could not be explained by individuals’ general tendencies to express curiosity (i.e., trait curiosity). In a pre-registered follow-up study (Study 2), we next asked whether the same factors that promote general news-seeking would also promote news-seeking surrounding a specific world event: the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Although all three motivational factors individually predicted news-seeking frequency surrounding the invasion, only the influence of ‘Understanding & Sense-Making’ remained significant while controlling for the remaining factors. Our data suggest that the desire to stay informed may be the strongest driver of general news-seeking tendencies, but that other motivational factors can take precedence for specific, major news topics.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Psychology
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	Nature Research
Funders:	Wellcome Trust
Projects:	211201/Z/18/Z
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	6 July 2026
Date of Acceptance:	4 February 2026
Last Modified:	17 Aug 2026 13:26
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/187964

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