Participants who felt more anxious one day tend to consume more violent true crime the next day.

The more violent the true crime, the better their likelihood of being in a good mood the next day.

True crime doesn't increase consumers' anxiety or level of fear.

Consuming true crime before bedtime often results in less anxiety the following day.

Is exposure to true crime a threat to our mental health or a potential coping skill?

A 2025 study by Perchtold-Stefan, Rominger, and Fink attempted to answer the question of whether the experience of watching, reading, or listening to true crime increases negative affect—such as anxiety, fear, and insecurity—or if people who experience anxiety, fear, and insecurity are more likely to gravitate to true crime media.

This study surveyed a sample population of 199 German adults, each of whom kept a daily diary of their consumption of both true crime and fictional crime. Daily diary designs are often considered the gold standard of data collection because they capture data in real time rather than relying on memory, which may be biased.

Participants also kept track of their mood in terms of positive affect (interested, excited, strong, enthusiastic, proud, alert, inspired, determined, attentive, active) and negative affect (distressed, upset, guilty, scared, hostile, irritable, ashamed, nervous, jittery, afraid). Responses concerning negative affect were divided into two different categories: those who experienced anxiety (feelings of being “scared,” “nervous,” and “afraid”) and those who experienced........

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