Managing mental health and media: Kristen Harrison’s research on media psychology

By Erin Wadsworth '22

Kristen Harrison, who joined the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media’s faculty as the Richard Cole Eminent Professor in 2023, is a pioneer in researching the influence of media on mental health.

Harrison’s expertise is an extraordinary addition to UNC Hussman’s strong program in health communication. 

Her interest in the psychological health effects of media developed when she was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in communication science with a minor in social and developmental psychology. It was the ’90s, and awareness of eating disorders was growing following Karen Carpenter’s death from anorexia nervosa. 

"I was really interested in body image and disordered eating, and I hadn't seen anything yet that linked it to the media. Of course, feminist writers had been writing about culture and pressure on girls and women to be small and thin,” Harrison said. “But I like to do quantitative research. It makes sense to my brain, so I thought, ‘Well, I'll do a body image study.’” 

Harrison conducted a cross-sectional, correlational survey on disordered eating and media exposure that confirmed what feminist critical cultural scholars suggested. 

"It showed what you would expect to find: that exposure to media that depicts and idealizes thinness is related to body dissatisfaction and more disordered eating symptomatology,” Harrison said. 

Since then, Harrison has proved herself as a national thought leader on the impact of media on mental health, body image and attitudes toward food. With over $5 million in funding, including a grant from the Eating Disorders and Exercise Network, she has published over 70 refereed articles and won nine top competitive paper awards at disciplinary conferences in the divisions of health communication, mass communication, and children, adolescents and media. 

“We are fortunate to count Kris Harrison among our faculty ranks as the school asserts our leadership position in health communication research and practice,” said Raul Reis, dean of UNC Hussman. “Health communication is a burgeoning field that presents tremendous demand and opportunity for our students, and Kris’ research has the power to inform public policy and to ultimately improve the way we understand and address public mental health.”

Before joining UNC Hussman’s faculty, Harrison held faculty positions at the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She also directed the Media Psychology Program and served as a consultant for the Task Force on Eating Disorders at the University of Michigan.

Her advice after 27 years of research? Block content and unfollow accounts that make us feel bad. 

“The algorithm is not going to save you,” Harrison said. “To manage it, you have to be proactive.” Removing harmful content and creators from your feed will retrain the algorithm to curate new content.

Harrison also recommends decreasing body-related content. Contrary to popular belief, the body positivity movement is not the solution to body image distress and disordered eating. 

“Although it is great to see more of a variety of bodies, it still reinforces the idea that the most important thing about you is your body. When you can get away from thinking about that, it tends to be better for our mental health,” Harrison said. 

Instead of body-related content, even diverse body-related content, Harrison suggests engaging with media related to your interests and connecting with people who accept you as you are.

Additionally, Harrison’s research on media psychology includes the “scope of self,” studying how individuals perceive themselves after media exposure. She found that limiting media consumption can lead to a more complex scope of self, which reduces emotional responses to stress.

Harrison is currently working on a few different projects as director of the Family and Media Laboratory at UNC Hussman and as a neurodiversity and accessibility consultant at PBS Kids. Her research encompasses a wider focus on children, adolescents and families.

At UNC, Harrison hopes to continue working with students who have novel research interests. She has advised over 50 students — most of them graduate students. Her students typically research topics related to her concentration in health communication, and she prefers to learn something new from her students.

“I might be even more interested in your research if I don’t already know what it’s going to show,” Harrison said. 

As for her research on body image and disordered eating, Harrison is looking for ways to expand it.

“I’m still very interested in body image and disordered eating,” Harrison said, “but I want to do something new to either figure out another aspect of it or extend it to new populations who haven’t been studied. There's a lot less research on body ideals and men's mental health, and there needs to be more.”