Consumption of news media can influence attitudes toward specific groups, but the influence of news media on longitudinal data collection has not yet been researched. We present a method to index media attention on a specific topic, as well as a case study on a big child sexual abuse (CSA) story and its effect on parents’ attitudes toward male childcare professionals in a longitudinal study with fathers and mothers of 207 Dutch families. Questionnaire data on attitudes toward gender-differentiated parenting were collected in four annual waves between 2010 and 2014. NexisUni® Academic database was used to index articles on CSA to chart patterns of media attention before and during that time span. There was an immediate increase in media attention, the amount of articles on CSA doubled, as well as a prolonged increase in attention which culminated during the second wave of the study. In the first wave, 97 of the families participated before the CSA case became known, and 110 participated afterward. Parents who participated after the first news about the case came out reported a more negative attitude toward hiring a male babysitter than those who participated before it. This effect was stronger for mothers. The negative effect on attitude endured during the subsequent waves for all fathers and for those mothers who participated before the news broke. Findings indicate that big news stories influence attitudes that lasts over time and can therefore influence longitudinal data. Further analysis suggests that the influence of news stories is gendered, as mothers showed a recovery in their attitudes over time while fathers did not. We recommend further research on the effect of news on attitude and behavioral measures in longitudinal research.

新闻媒体的消费会影响对特定群体的态度，但尚未研究新闻媒体对纵向数据收集的影响。我们提出了一种方法来索引媒体对特定主题的关注，以及在与 207 名父亲和母亲的纵向研究中，关于大儿童性虐待 (CSA) 故事及其对父母对男性育儿专业人员态度的影响的案例研究荷兰家庭。在 2010 年至 2014 年期间，每年收集四次关于性别差异养育态度的调查问卷数据。 NexisUni® Academic 数据库用于索引有关 CSA 的文章，以绘制该时间段之前和期间媒体关注的模式。媒体关注度立即增加，CSA的文章数量翻了一番，以及在第二波研究中达到高潮的注意力的长期增加。在第一波中，有 97 个家庭在 CSA 案件被发现之前参与了，之后有 110 个家庭参与了。在有关此案的第一个消息出来后参与的父母报告说，与之前参与的人相比，他们对雇用男性保姆的态度更为消极。这种影响对母亲来说更强。在随后的一波波中，对所有父亲和在新闻爆发前参与的母亲来说，态度上的负面影响持续存在。调查结果表明，重大新闻故事会影响长期存在的态度，因此会影响纵向数据。进一步的分析表明，新闻报道的影响是有性别的，因为随着时间的推移，母亲的态度有所恢复，而父亲则没有。