War News Exposure and Household Economic Anxiety: The Perceived Impact of the United States–Israel–Iran Conflict on Fuel and Food Price Concerns in Depok, Indonesia

Abstract : This study examines the effect of exposure to war news on household economic anxiety, focusing on public concern over fuel and food price increases in Depok, Indonesia. The research was motivated by the increasing intensity of global conflict coverage and its potential to shape local perceptions of economic risk. Using a quantitative explanatory approach, this study surveyed 103 respondents who had access to mass or digital media and were exposed to news about the United States–Israel–Iran conflict. The independent variable was war news exposure, measured through frequency, duration, attention, and multiplatform intensity. The dependent variable was household economic anxiety, measured through concerns about fuel prices, food commodity prices, household living costs, and family economic stability. The data were analysed using simple linear regression. The findings show that war news exposure has a positive and significant effect on household economic anxiety, with a significance value of 0.000 and a regression coefficient of 0.642. The coefficient of determination indicates that exposure to war news explains 35.9% of the variation in economic anxiety. These findings suggest that global conflict news can shape local economic concerns through media exposure.