Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

2025

Lissens, M., Harff, D., & Schmuck, D. (2025). Responses to (Un)healthy advice: Processing and acceptance of health content creators' nutrition misinformation by youth. Appetite, 206, 107812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107812

2024

Harff, D., & Schmuck, D. (2024). Prevalence, Presentation, and Popularity of Political Topics in Social Media Influencers’ Content Across Two Countries. Political Communication, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2024.2406809

Harff, D., & Schmuck, D. (2024). Is authenticity key? Mobilization by social media influencers versus celebrities and young people's political participation. Psychology & Marketing, 41(11), 2757-2771. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22082

Wittner Franckx, L., Zarouali, B., & Schmuck, D. (2024). The effect of an X forewarning on the detection and likelihood to follow a social bot, and the moderating role of mutual friends and privacy concerns. Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap, 52(3), 326-349. https://doi.org/10.5117/TCW2024.3.004.WITT

Harff, D. & Schmuck, D. (2024). Who relies on social media influencers for political information? A cross-country study among youth. International Journal of Press/Politics. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612241234898

Van Houtven, E., Acquah, S. B., Obermaier, M., Saleem, M., & Schmuck, D. (2024). ‘You Got My Back?’ Severity and Counter-Speech in Online Hate Speech Toward Minority Groups. Media Psychology, 27(6), 923–954. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2023.2298684

2023

Gonzalez, A., Schmuck, D., & Vandenbosch, L. (2023). Posting and framing politics: a content analysis of celebrities’, athletes’, and influencers’ Instagram political content. Information, Communication & Society, 27(8), 1605–1627. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2023.2285495
Schmuck, D., & Harff, D. (2023). Popular Among Distrustful Youth? Social Media Influencers’ Communication About COVID-19 and Young People’s Risk Perceptions and Vaccination Intentions. Health Communication, 39(12), 2730–2743. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2286408
Stevic, A., Schmuck, D., Thomas, M., Karsay, K., Matthes, J. (2023). Distracted children? Nighttime smartphone use, children’s attentional problems, and school performance over time. Journal Of Early Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1177/02724316231164734
Dekoninck, H., Van Houtven, E., & Schmuck, D. (2023). Inspiring G(re)en Z: Unraveling (para)social bonds with influencers and perceptions of their environmental content. Environmental Communication, 17(7), 701-719. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2023.2237693
Hameleers, M., Harff, D., & Schmuck, D. (2023). The alternative truth kept hidden from us: The effects of multimodal disinformation disseminated by ordinary citizens and alternative hyper-partisan media evidence from the US and India. Digital Journalism. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2023.2210616
Dekoninck, H. & Schmuck, D. (2023). The “Greenfluence”: Following environmental influencers, parasocial relationships, and youth’s participation behavior. New Media & Society. Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231156131
Harff, D., & Schmuck, D. (2023). Influencers as empowering agents? Following political influencers, internal political efficacy and participation among youth. Political Communication, 40(2), 147-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2023.2166631
Karsay, K., Schmuck, D., Stevic, A., & Matthes, J. (2023). Sleeping with the smartphone: a panel study investigating parental mediation, adolescents’ tiredness, and physical well-being. Behaviour & Information Technology, 42(11), 1833-1844. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2022.2100277
Karsay, K., Matthes, J., Schmuck, D., & Ecklebe, S. (2023). Messaging, posting, and browsing: A mobile experience sampling study investigating youth’s social media use, affective well-being, and loneliness. Social Science Computer Review, 41(4), 1493-1513. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393211058308
Obermaier, M., Schmuck, D., & Saleem, M. (2023). I’ll be there for you? Effects of Islamophobic online hate speech and counter speech on Muslim in-group bystanders’ intention to intervene. New Media & Society, 25(9), 2339-2358. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211017527
Matthes, J., Schmuck, D., & von Sikorski, C. (2023). In the eye of the beholder: A case for the visual hostile media phenomenon. Communication Research, 50(7), 879-903. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502211018596
Schmuck, D., Stevic, A., Matthes, J., & Karsay, K. (2023). Out of control? How parents’ perceived lack of control over children’s smartphone use affects children’s self-esteem over time. New Media & Society, 25(1), 199-219. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211011452
Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & von Sikorski, C. (2023). No compassion for Muslims? How journalistic news coverage of terrorist crimes influences emotional reactions and policy support depending on the victim’s religion. Crime & Delinquency, 69(5), 1020-1043. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287211000626

2022

Schmuck, D., Hirsch, M., Stevic, A., & Matthes, J. (2022). Politics–simply explained? How influencers affect youth’s perceived simplification of politics, political cynicism, and political interest. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(3), 738-762. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221088987
Obermaier, M., & Schmuck, D. (2022). Youths as targets: Factors of online hate speech victimization among adolescents and young adults. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 27(4), zmac012. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmac012
Harff, D., Bollen, C., & Schmuck, D. (2022). Responses to social media influencers’ misinformation about COVID-19: A pre-registered multiple-exposure experiment. Media Psychology, 25(6), 831-850. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2022.2080711
Schmuck, D., Fawzi, N., Reinemann, C., & Riesmeyer, C. (2022). Social media use and political cynicism among German youth: The role of information-orientation, exposure to extremist content, and online media literacy. Journal of Children and Media, 16(3), 313-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2021.1977358
Matthes, J., Karsay, K., Hirsch, M., Stevic, A., & Schmuck, D. (2022). Reflective smartphone disengagement: Conceptualization, measurement, and validation. Computers in Human Behavior, 128, 107078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107078c
von Sikorski, C., Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., Klobasa, C., Knupfer, H., & Saumer, M. (2022). Do journalists differentiate between Muslims and Islamist terrorists? A content analysis of terrorism news coverage. Journalism, 23(6), 1171-1193. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884921990223
Dekoninck, H., & Schmuck, D. (2022). The mobilizing power of influencers for pro-environmental behavior intentions and political participation. Environmental Communication, 16(4), 458-472. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2022.2027801
Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., von Sikorski, C., Rahmanian, M., & Bulat, B. (2022). Tearing us apart? Muslims’ attitudes toward the majority population in response to differentiated versus undifferentiated news about terror. International Journal of Communication, 16(2022), 1420-1440.
Stevic, A., Schmuck, D., Koemets, A., Hirsch, M., Karsay, K., Thomas, M. F., & Matthes, J. (2022). Privacy concerns can stress you out: Investigating the reciprocal relationship between mobile social media privacy concerns and perceived stress. Communications, 47(3), 327-349. https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2020-0037

2021

Schmuck, D. (2021). Following social media influencers in early adolescence: Fear of missing out, social well-being and supportive communication with parents. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 26(5), 245-264. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmab008
Heiss, R., Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Eicher, C. (2021). Citizen science in schools: Predictors and outcomes of participating in voluntary political research. SAGE Open, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211016428
Hameleers, M., Schmuck, D., Schulz, A., Wirz, D. S., Matthes, J., Bos, L., Corbu, N. & Andreadis, I. (2021). The effects of populist identity framing on populist attitudes across Europe: Evidence from a 15-country comparative experiment. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 33(3), 491-510. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edaa018
Stevic, A., Schmuck, D., Karsay, K., & Matthes, J. (2021). Are smartphones enhancing or displacing face-to-face communication with close ties? A panel study among adults. International Journal of Communication, (15), 792-813.
Von Sikorski, C., Matthes, J., & Schmuck, D. (2021). The Islamic State in the news: Journalistic differentiation of Islamist terrorism from Islam, terror news proximity, and Islamophobic attitudes. Communication Research, 48(2), 203-232. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650218803276
Hameleers, M., Schmuck, D., Bos, L., & Ecklebe, S. (2021). Interacting with the ordinary people: How populist messages and styles communicated by politicians trigger users’ behaviour on social media in a comparative context. European Journal of Communication, 36(3), 238-253. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267323120978723
Stevic, A., Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Karsay, K. (2021). ‘Age Matters’: A panel study investigating the influence of communicative and passive smartphone use on well-being. Behaviour & Information Technology, 40(2), 176-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2019.1680732
Matthes, J., Thomas, M. F., Stevic, A., & Schmuck, D. (2021). Fighting over smartphones? Parents' excessive smartphone use, lack of control over children's use, and conflict. Computers in Human Behavior, 116, 106618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106618

2020

Schmuck, D. (2020). Does digital detox work? Exploring the role of digital detox applications for problematic smartphone use and well-being of young adults using multigroup analysis. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(8), 526-532. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.057
Schmuck, D., & von Sikorski, C. (2020). Perceived threats from social bots: The media's role in supporting literacy. Computers in Human Behavior, 113, 106507. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106507
Schmuck, D., & Tribastone, M. (2020). Muslims take action. How exposure to anti-Islamic populist political messages affects young Muslims’ support for collective action: A longitudinal experiment. Political Communication, 37(5), 635-655. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2020.1736700
Matthes, J., Kaskeleviciute, R., Schmuck, D., von Sikorski, C., Klobasa, C., Knupfer, H., & Saumer, M. (2020). Who differentiates between Muslims and Islamist terrorists in terrorism news coverage? An actor-based approach. Journalism Studies, 21(15), 2135-2153. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2020.1812422
Schmuck, D., & Hameleers, M. (2020). Closer to the people: A comparative content analysis of populist communication on social networking sites in pre-and post-election periods. Information, Communication & Society, 23(10), 1531-1548. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1588909
Schmuck, D., Tribastone, M., Matthes, J., Marquart, F., & Bergel, E. M. (2020). Avoiding the other side? An eye-tracking study of selective exposure and selective avoidance effects in response to political advertising. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 32(3), 158-164. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000265
Schmuck, D., Heiss, R., & Matthes, J. (2020). Drifting further apart? How exposure to media portrayals of Muslims affects attitude polarization. Political Psychology, 41(6), 1055-1072. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12664
Bos, L., Schemer, C., Corbu, N., Hameleers, M., Andreadis, I., Schulz, A., Schmuck, D., Reinemann, C., & Fawzi, N. (2020). The effects of populism as a social identity frame on persuasion and mobilisation: Evidence from a 15‐country experiment. European Journal of Political Research, 59(1), 3-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12334
Matthes, J., Karsay, K., Schmuck, D., & Stevic, A. (2020). “Too much to handle”: Impact of mobile social networking sites on information overload, depressive symptoms, and well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 105, 106217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.106217

2019

Karsay, K., Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Stevic, A. (2019). Longitudinal effects of excessive smartphone use on stress and loneliness: The moderating role of self-disclosure. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22(11), 706-713. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0255
Matthes, J., Schmuck, D., & von Sikorski, C. (2019). Terror, terror everywhere? How terrorism news shape support for anti‐Muslim policies as a function of perceived threat severity and controllability. Political Psychology, 40(5), 935-951. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12576
Schmuck, D., Karsay, K., Matthes, J., & Stevic, A. (2019). “Looking up and feeling down”. The influence of mobile social networking site use on upward social comparison, self-esteem, and well-being of adult smartphone users. Telematics and informatics, 42, 101240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2019.101240
Karsay, K., & Schmuck, D. (2019). “Weak, sad, and lazy fatties”: Adolescents’ explicit and implicit weight bias following exposure to weight loss reality TV shows. Media Psychology, 22(1), 60-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2017.1396903
Heiss, R., Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J. (2019). What drives interaction in political actors’ Facebook posts? Profile and content predictors of user engagement and political actors’ reactions. Information, Communication & Society, 22(10), 1497-1513. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1445273
Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J. (2019). Voting “Against Islamization”? How anti‐Islamic right‐wing, populist political campaign ads influence explicit and implicit attitudes toward Muslims as well as voting preferences. Political Psychology, 40(4), 739-757. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12557

2018

Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., Von Sikorski, C., Materne, N., & Shah, E. (2018). Are unidentified terrorist suspects always Muslims? How terrorism news shape news consumers’ automatic activation of Muslims as perpetrators. Religions, 9(10), 286. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9100286
Hameleers, M., Bos, L., Fawzi, N., Reinemann, C., Andreadis, I., Corbu, N., Schemer, C.,
Schulz, A., Shaefer, T., Aalberg, T., Axelsson, S., Berganza, R., Cremonesi, C., Dahlberg, S., de Vreese, C.H., Hess, A., Kartsounidou, E., Kasprowicz, D., Matthes, J., Negrea-Busuioc, E., Ringdal, S., Salgado, S., Sanders, K., Schmuck, D., Stromback, J., Suiter, J., Boomgaarden, H., Tenenboim-Weinblatt, K., & Weiss-Yaniv, N. (2018). Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries. International Journal Of Press-Politics, 23(4), 517-538. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161218786786
Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Naderer, B. (2018). Misleading consumers with green advertising? An affect–reason–involvement account of greenwashing effects in environmental advertising. Journal of Advertising, 47(2), 127-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2018.1452652
Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., Naderer, B., & Beaufort, M. (2018). The effects of environmental brand attributes and nature imagery in green advertising. Environmental Communication, 12(3), 414-429. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2017.1308401

2017

Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Paul, F. H. (2017). Negative stereotypical portrayals of Muslims in right-wing populist campaigns: Perceived discrimination, social identity threats, and hostility among young Muslim adults. Journal of Communication, 67(4), 610-634. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12313
Schmuck, D., Heiss, R., Matthes, J., Engesser, S., & Esser, F. (2017). Antecedents of strategic game framing in political news coverage. Journalism, 18(8), 937-955. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884916648098
Matthes, J., & Schmuck, D. (2017). The effects of anti-immigrant right-wing populist ads on implicit and explicit attitudes: A moderated mediation model. Communication Research, 44(4), 556-581. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650215577859
Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J. (2017). Effects of economic and symbolic threat appeals in right-wing populist advertising on anti-immigrant attitudes: The impact of textual and visual appeals. Political Communication, 34(4), 607-626. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2017.1316807
von Sikorski, C., Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Binder, A. (2017). "Muslims are not terrorists": Islamic state coverage, journalistic differentiation between terrorism and Islam, fear reactions, and attitudes toward Muslims. Mass Communication And Society, 20(6), 825-848. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2017.1342131
Hameleers, M., & Schmuck, D. (2017). It’s us against them: A comparative experiment on the effects of populist messages communicated via social media. Information, Communication & Society, 20(9), 1425-1444. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1328523
Schmuck, D. (2017). The perception and effects of xenophobic, right-wing populist campaigns in consideration of individuals’ migrant background: A qualitative investigation. Studies in Communication-Media, 6-38. https://doi.org/10.5771/2192-4007-2017-1-6

2015

Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J. (2015). How anti-immigrant right-wing populist advertisements affect young voters: Symbolic threats, economic threats and the moderating role of education. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41(10), 1577-1599. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2014.981513
Matthes, J., Marquart, F., Naderer, B., Arendt, F., Schmuck, D., & Adam, K. (2015). Questionable research practices in experimental communication research: A systematic analysis from 1980 to 2013. Communication Methods and Measures, 9(4), 193-207. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2015.1096334

2014

Matthes, J., Wonneberger, A., & Schmuck, D. (2014). Consumers' green involvement and the persuasive effects of emotional versus functional ads. Journal of Business Research, 67(9), 1885-1893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.11.054

Book chapters and other publications

Schmuck, D. (2022). Social media influencers and environmental communication. In B.
Takahashi, J. Metag, J. Thaker, & S.E. Comfort (Eds.), The handbook of international trends in environmental communication. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367275204
Krämer B., & Schmuck, D. (2020). Populismus und Medien. Merkmale und Konsequenzen
populistischer Kommunikation [Populism and the media. Characteristics and consequences
of populist communication]. Politische Studien, 491(2020), 26-34.
Hameleers, M., Reinemann, C., Schmuck, D., & Fawzi, N. (2019). The persuasiveness of populist communication: Conceptualizing the effects and political consequences of populist communication from a social identity perspective. In C. Reinemann, J. Stanyer, T. Aalerg, F. Esser, & C. H. de Vreese (Eds.), Communicating populism (pp. 144-167). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429402067
Von Sikorski, C., Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J. (2018). Eine Spirale der Angst? Terrorberichterstattung in den Medien, wahrgenommene Bedrohung und politische Einstellungen. [A spiral of fear? Terror reporting in the media, perceived threat and political attitudes]. Psychologie in Österreich, 38(5), 354-261.
Schmuck, D., Matthes, J., & Boomgaarden, H. (2017). Austria candidate-centered and anti-
mmigrant right-wing populism. In T. Aalberg, F. Esser, C. Reinemann, J. Stromback, & C.H.
DeVreese (Eds.), Populist political communication in Europe (pp. 85-98). Routledge. ISBN 9781138614826
Naderer, B., Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J. (2017). Greenwashing: Disinformation through green
advertising. In G. Siegert, M. B. von Rimscha, & S. Grubenmann (Eds.), Commercial communication in the digital age – Information or disinformation? (pp. 105-120). De Gruyter Mouto. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110416794-007
Schmuck, D. (2017). Visual presentation of data. In J. Matthes, C. Davis, & R.F. Potter
(Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 1931-1933).
Wiley/International Communication Association. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0264
Schmuck, D. (2016). Wirkungen rechtspopulistischer politischer Kampagnen aus Sicht der
kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Forschung. Gedenkdienst 79(4), 3.
Schmuck, D., & Matthes, J. (2014). Das Ende der Politikverdrossenheit? Politische Social Media-Angebote für Jugendliche [The end of political apathy? Social media and participatory politics for adolescents]. Psychologie in Österreich, 34(4), 264-269.