College students in China during initial COVID-19 pandemic: Role of social media on attitudes toward preventive measures

Abstract

Objective: To examine the direct and indirect associations (through risk perceptions) between college students’ social media use and their perceived importance of COVID-19 preventive measures. Participants and Method: 1,353 undergraduate students in China completed an online survey in 2020 Spring. Results: Participants reported high reliance on social media for COVID-19 updates, which was positively associated with perceived importance of preventive measures. Information-oriented social media use was associated with higher perceived importance of preventive measures not only directly but also indirectly via increased cognitive and emotional risk perceptions. Social-oriented media use, on the other hand, had a negative direct association with perceived importance of preventive measure as well as a positive indirect association via emotional risk perception. Conclusions: This study shows that social media are important information sources for college students during the early stage of the pandemic and their response to the pandemic was related to social media use.

Keywords:

• college students
• COVID-19
• perceived importance of preventive measures
• risk perceptions
• social media

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of China and the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.

Notes

1 Universities and colleges in China usually set up WeChat/QQ groups for students to facilitate class management.