Mechanism of Health Information Avoidance Behavior of the Elderly
Health information avoidance behavior is a vital interfering factor in health communication among the elderly,while previous studies have rarely investigated the influencing paths on it.Based on the SOR theory,this study explored the mechanism of health information avoidance behavior among the elderly.A total of 465 older adults in China were recruited to participate in this survey.SEM shows that perceived hazard characteristics,negative affective response,and weak channel beliefs were positively associated with health information avoidance behavior.Furthermore,negative information characteristics,salience,cognitive dissonance,and social support were associated with health information avoidance behavior through the above three variables in the stage of organism.Additionally,fsQCA shows that there were three main configurations for health information avoidance behavior,including externally-driven avoidance with weak channel beliefs and the absence of social support as core conditions,factually-driven avoidance with negative information characteristics and salience as core conditions as well as emotionally-driven avoidance with negative affective response and negative information characteristics as core conditions.The study not only examines the pathways among factors influencing health information avoidance behavior in the elderly,but also verifies configuration effects of these factors,which provides theoretical and practical implications for improving geriatric education and risk management in public health.
health information avoidance behavioraging communicationmechanismstructural equation modelfuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
