When Do People Verify and Share Health Rumors on Social Media? The Effects of Message Importance, Health Anxiety, and Health Literacy

References

• Agree, E. M., King, A. C., Castro, C. M., Wiley, A., & Borzekowski, D. L. (2015). “It’s got to be on this page”: Age and cognitive style in a study of online health information seeking. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17, e79. doi:10.2196/jmir.3352
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Allport, G. W., & Postman, L. (1947). The psychology of rumor. Oxford, England: Henry Holt.
   Google Scholar
• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) (5th ed.). Washington DC: Author.
   Google Scholar
• Anthony, S. (1973). Anxiety and rumor. The Journal of Social Psychology, 89, 91–98. doi:10.1080/00224545.1973.9922572
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bar-Haim, Y., Lamy, D., Pergamin, L., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2007). Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 1–24. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.1
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bessi, A., Zollo, F., Del Vicario, M., Scala, A., Caldarelli, G., & Quattrociocchi, W. (2015). Trend of narratives in the age of misinformation. PloS One, 10, e0134641. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0134641
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Birru, M. S., Monaco, V. M., Charles, L., Drew, H., Njie, V., Bierria, T., … Steinman, R. A. (2004). Internet usage by low-literacy adults seeking health information: An observational analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 6, e25. doi:10.2196/jmir.6.3.e25
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bode, L., & Vraga, E. K. (2015). In related news, that was wrong: The correction of misinformation through related stories functionality in social media. Journal of Communication, 65, 619–638. doi:10.1111/jcom.2015.65.issue-4
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bordia, P., & Difonzo, N. (2005). Psychological motivations in rumor spread. In G. A. Fine, V. Campion-Vincent, & C. Heath (Eds.), Rumor Mills (pp. 87–101). New York, NY: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Bordia, P., & DiFonzo, N. (2004). Problem solving in social interactions on the Internet: Rumor as social cognition. Social Psychology Quarterly, 67, 33–49. doi:10.1177/019027250406700105
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Chen, X., Hay, J. L., Waters, E. A., Kiviniemi, M. T., Biddle, C., Schofield, E., … Orom, H. (2018). Health literacy and use and trust in health information. Journal of Health Communication, 23, 724–734. doi:10.1080/10810730.2018.1511658
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cisler, J. M., & Koster, E. H. (2010). Mechanisms of attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders: An integrative review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 203–216. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.003
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Conradt, M., Cavanagh, M., Franklin, J., & Rief, W. (2006). Dimensionality of the Whiteley Index: Assessment of hypochondriasis in an Australian sample of primary care patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60, 137–143. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2005.07.003
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Crook, B., Stephens, K. K., Pastorek, A. E., Mackert, M., & Donovan, E. E. (2016). Sharing health information and influencing behavioral intentions: The role of health literacy, information overload, and the Internet in the diffusion of healthy heart information. Health Communication, 31, 60–71. doi:10.1080/10410236.2014.936336
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cullen, R. (2006). Health information on the internet: A study of providers, quality, and users. London, UK: Praeger.
   Google Scholar
• Dibble, J. L. (2014). Breaking good and bad news: Face-implicating concerns as mediating the relationship between news valence and hesitation to share the news. Communication Studies, 65, 223–243. doi:10.1080/10510974.2013.811431
   Google Scholar
• DiFonzo, N., & Bordia, P. (1997). Rumor and prediction: Making sense (but losing dollars) in the stock market. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 71, 329–353. doi:10.1006/obhd.1997.2724
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• DiFonzo, N., & Bordia, P. (2000). How top PR professionals handle hearsay: Corporate rumors, their effects, and strategies to manage them. Public Relations Review, 26, 172–190. doi:10.1016/S0363-8111(00)00039-4
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• DiFonzo, N., & Bordia, P. (2007). Rumor psychology: Social and organizational approaches. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/11503-000
   Google Scholar
• Diviani, N., van Den Putte, B., Giani, S., & van Weert, J. C. (2015). Low health literacy and evaluation of online health information: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(5), e112. doi:10.2196/jmir.4018
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fergus, T. A. (2013). Cyberchondria and intolerance of uncertainty: Examining when individuals experience health anxiety in response to Internet searches for medical information. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16, 735–739. doi:10.1089/cyber.2012.0671
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fink, P., Ewald, H., Jensen, J., Sørensen, L., Engberg, M., Holm, M., & Munk-Jørgensen, P. (1999). Screening for somatization and hypochondriasis in primary care and neurological in-patients: A seven-item scale for hypochondriasis and somatization. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 46, 261–273. doi:10.1016/s0022-3999(98)00092-0
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gesser-Edelsburg, A., Diamant, A., Hijazi, R., & Mesch, G. S. (2018). Correcting misinformation by health organizations during measles outbreaks: A controlled experiment. PloS One, 13(12), e0209505. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209505
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gesser-Edelsburg, A., & Shir-Raz, Y. (2016). Risk communication and infectious diseases in an age of digital media. New York, NY: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Ghaddar, S. F., Valerio, M. A., Garcia, C. M., & Hansen, L. H. (2011). Adolescent health literacy: The Importance of credible sources for online health information. Journal of School Health, 82, 28–36. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00664.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gottfried, J. A., Hardy, B. W., Winneg, K. M., & Jamieson, K. H. (2013). Did fact checking matter in the 2012 presidential campaign? American Behavioral Scientist, 57, 1558–1567. doi:10.1177/0002764213489012
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hardey, M. (2001). ‘E-health’: The Internet and the transformation of patients into consumers and producers of health knowledge. Information, Communication & Society, 4, 388–405. doi:10.1080/713768551
   Google Scholar
• Hayes, A. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. New York, NY: Guilford Publication.
   Google Scholar
• Jolley, D., & Douglas, K. M. (2014). The effects of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories on vaccination intentions. PloS One, 9(2), e89177. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0089177
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47, 263–291. doi:10.2307/1914185
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kim, J.-N., & Grunig, J. E. (2011). Problem solving and communicative action: A situational theory of problem solving. Journal of Communication, 61, 120–149. doi:10.1111/jcom.2011.61.issue-1
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kimmel, A. J., & Audrain-Pontevia, A.-F. (2010). Analysis of commercial rumors from the perspective of marketing managers: Rumor prevalence, effects, and control tactics. Journal of Marketing Communications, 16, 239–253. doi:10.1080/13527260902884433
   Google Scholar
• Lazer, D. M. J., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., … Zittrain, J. L. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 358, 1094–1096. doi:10.1126/science.aao2998
   Google Scholar
• Lee, E.-J., & Kim, Y. W. (2014). How social is Twitter use? Affiliative tendency and communication competence as predictors. Computers in Human Behavior, 39, 296–305. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2014.07.034
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lee, H., & Oh, H. J. (2017). Normative mechanism of rumor dissemination on Twitter. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 20, 164–171. doi:10.1089/cyber.2016.0447
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lee, H., & Oh, H. J. (2018). The effects of ‘rumor’ label on information seeking, sharing, and compliance. Focus on the moderating role of information valence. Journal of Public Relations, 22(4), 27–48. doi:10.15814/jpr.2018.22.4.27
   Google Scholar
• McMullan, R. D., Berle, D., Arnáez, S., & Starcevic, V. (2019). The relationships between health anxiety, online health information seeking, and cyberchondria: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 245, 270–278. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2018.11.037
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Muse, K., McManus, F., Leung, C., Meghrebilan, B., & Williams, J. M. (2012). Cyberchondriasis: Fact or fiction? A preliminary examination of the relationship between health anxiety and searching for information on the Internet. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 186–196. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.11.005
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Norman, C. D., & Skinner, H. A. (2006). eHEALS: The eHealth literacy scale. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 8, e27. doi:10.2196/jmir.8.4.e27
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• O’Keefe, D. (2003). Message properties, mediating states, and manipulation checks: Claims, evidence, and data analysis in experimental persuasive message effects research. Communication Theory, 13, 251–274. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2885.2003.tb00292.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Pezzo, M. V., & Beckstead, J. W. (2006). A multilevel analysis of rumor transmission: Effects of anxiety and belief in two field experiments. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 28, 91–100. doi:10.1207/s15324834basp2801_8
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Pilowsky, I. (1967). Dimensions of hypochondriasis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 89–93. doi:10.1192/bjp.113.494.89
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Pluviano, S., Watt, C., & Della Sala, S. (2017). Misinformation lingers in memory: Failure of three pro-vaccination strategies. PloS One, 12, e0181640. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0181640
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Radzikowski, J., Stefanidis, A., Jacobsen, K. H., Croitoru, A., Crooks, A., & Delamater, P. L. (2016). The measles vaccination narrative in Twitter: A quantitative analysis. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance, 2, e1. doi:10.2196/publichealth.5059
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Schultz, F., Utz, S., & Göritz, A. (2011). Is the medium the message? Perceptions of and reactions to crisis communication via twitter, blogs and traditional media. Public Relations Review, 37, 20–27. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.12.001
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Silverman, C. (2015). Lies, damn lies and viral content: How news websites spread(and debunk) online rumors, unverified claims, and misinformation. Retrieved from http://towcenter.org/research/lies-damn-lies-and-viral-content/
   Google Scholar
• Starcevic, V., & Berle, D. (2013). Cyberchondria: Towards a better understanding of excessive health-related Internet use. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 13, 205–213. doi:10.1586/ern.12.162
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sunderland, M., Newby, J. M., & Andrews, G. (2013). Health anxiety in Australia: Prevalence, comorbidity, disability and service use. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 202, 56–61. doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.111.103960
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sunstein, C. R. (2009). On rumors: How falsehoods spread, why we believe them, and what can be done. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
   Google Scholar
• Swindell, J. S., McGuire, A. L., & Halpern, S. D. (2010). Beneficent persuasion: Techniques and ethical guidelines to improve patients’ decisions. Annals of Family Medicine, 8, 260–264. doi:10.1370/afm.1118
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• von Wagner, C., Semmler, C., Good, A., & Wardle, J. (2009). Health literacy and self-efficacy for participating in colorectal cancer screening: The role of information processing. Patient Education and Counseling, 75, 352–357. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2009.03.015
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 359(6380), 1146–1151. doi:10.1126/science.aap9559
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Vraga, E. K., & Bode, L. (2017). Using expert sources to correct health misinformation in social media. Science Communication, 39, 621–645. doi:10.1177/1075547017731776
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Westerman, D., Spence, P. R., & van der Heide, B. (2012). A social network as information: The effect of system generated reports of connectedness on credibility on Twitter. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 199–206. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.09.001
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Willemsen, L. M., Neijens, P. C., Bronner, F., & De Ridder, J. A. (2011). “Highly recommended!” The content characteristics and perceived usefulness of online consumer reviews. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 17(1), 19–38. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2011.01551.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• World Health Organization. (1998). Health promotion glossary. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.
   Google Scholar
• World Health Organization. (n.d.). Vaccine safety basics. Retrieved from https://vaccine-safety-training.org/impact-of-rumours-and-crises.html
   Google Scholar
• Yang, H., & Oliver, M. B. (2004). Exploring the effects of online advertising on readers’ perceptions of online news. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81, 733–749. doi:10.1177/107769900408100402
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar