Cultural Differences in Cancer Information Acquisition: Cancer Risk Perceptions, Fatalistic Beliefs, and Worry as Predictors of Cancer Information Seeking and Avoidance in the U.S. and China

ABSTRACT

Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in China and the United States. Past studies found that cancer risk perceptions, fatalistic beliefs, and worry were prominent predictors of health-related behaviors. Perceived cancer risks, fatalistic beliefs, and worry were associated with cancer information acquisition in the United States. However, little is known about whether these factors played comparable roles in China. This study investigates the psychological antecedents of cancer information acquisition using data from Health Information National Trends Surveys (HINTS) in both countries. Results showed that cancer worry was negatively related to cancer information avoidance in the U.S. but positively related to information avoidance in China. Also, whereas cancer fatalistic beliefs were negatively associated with cancer information seeking in the U.S., the relationships between fatalistic beliefs and cancer information seeking exhibited more complex patterns in China. Implications for cancer communication in different cultures are discussed.

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Guoming Yu and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the Beijing Normal University for organizing the health communication research workshop about the China Health Information National Trends Survey, which provides us with access to the survey data and the related information.