Who Avoids Cancer Information? Examining a Psychological Process Leading to Cancer Information Avoidance

Abstract

Although cancer information avoidance (CIA) is detrimental to public health, predictors of CIA have not been fully investigated. Based on uncertainty management theory, this study viewed CIA as a response to uncertainty related to the distress associated with cancer information and illustrated the psychological process leading to CIA. Given the current information context, it was hypothesized that cancer information overload (CIO), accompanied by confusion and stress about cancer information, causes CIA. As trait anxiety is a strong predictor of CIO, it was also hypothesized that trait anxiety has an indirect effect on CIA through CIO. Study 1 tested this relationship in a U.S. sample (N = 384); the results showed that CIO was positively associated with CIA and that trait anxiety indirectly influenced CIA through CIO. Whereas Study 1 tested the relationship with cross-sectional data in the general cancer context, Study 2 replicated Study 1 with 3-wave longitudinal data in the context of a specific cancer (i.e., stomach cancer) in South Korea (N = 1,130 at Wave 1, 813 at Wave 2, and 582 at Wave 3). Trait anxiety at Wave 1 predicted CIO at Wave 2, which in turn increased CIA at Wave 3, suggesting that some people are inherently inclined to avoid cancer information due to their trait anxiety, which results in confusion about cancer information.

Notes

¹ Among the four data sets in Chae and colleagues (2016), one (the Korean sample) is the same as Sample 2 in the current study. The previous study used only Wave 2 data to identify predictors of CIO, including media exposure at Wave 2. Because trait anxiety was measured only at Wave 1, part of Wave 1 data was used. Thus, the relationship between trait anxiety and CIO in Study 2 was already shown in the previous study. The relationship between trait anxiety and CIO in this study (Hypothesis 2) is proposed only to suggest a mediation model. Also, note that the current study uses all three waves to show the indirect effects of trait anxiety on CIA through CIO as well as the direct effects of trait anxiety on CIA.