Jiyeon So

What Do People Like to “Share” About Obesity? A Content Analysis of Frequent Retweets About Obesity on Twitter

Twitter has been recognized as a useful channel for the sharing and dissemination of health information, owing in part to its “retweet” function. This study reports findings from a content analysis of frequently retweeted obesity-related tweets to identify the prevalent beliefs and attitudes about obesity on Twitter, as well as key message features that prompt retweeting behavior conducive to maximizing the reach of health messages on Twitter. The findings show that tweets that are emotionally evocative, humorous, and concern individual-level causes for obesity were more frequently retweeted than their counterparts. Specifically, tweets that evoke amusement were retweeted most frequently, followed by tweets evoking contentment, surprise, and anger. In regard to humor, derogatory jokes were more frequently retweeted than nonderogatory ones, and in terms of specific types of humor, weight-related puns, repartee, and parody were shared frequently. Consistent with extant literature about obesity, the findings demonstrated the predominance of the individual-level (e.g., problematic diet, lack of exercise) over social-level causes for obesity (e.g., availability of cheap and unhealthy food). Implications for designing social-media-based health campaign messages are discussed.

Reexamining Fear Appeal Models from Cognitive Appraisal Theory and Functional Emotion Theory Perspectives

Recognizing inconsistencies between the extant fear appeal theories and emotion literature, this research integrated cognitive appraisal theory and functional emotion theory into a fear appeal literature and proposed a model that describes a process through which both fear and anxiety can contribute to adaptive responses. Findings from an experiment (N = 927) supported the predictions. Fear and anxiety emerged as distinct constructs. Perceived susceptibility was a stronger predictor of anxiety than fear, while perceived severity was a stronger predictor of fear than anxiety. In addition, greater fear and anxiety led to greater response efficacy through increased motivation to obtain protection-related information and heightened attention to such information, thus mediating the threat and coping appraisal processes. The SEM model testing the predictions showed that perceived susceptibility had the strongest total effects on protection intention, followed by anxiety, perceived severity, and fear.

Do Emotions Spark Interest in Alternative Tobacco Products

Background. Exposure to advertisements for tobacco products and tobacco warning labels evokes emotions. This study evaluated the association of discrete positive and negative emotions with interest in alternative tobacco products. Method. In 2013, 1,226 U.S. adult nonsmokers and current smokers viewed advertisements for moist snuff, snus, and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) with various warning labels and then indicated their emotional responses in terms of anger, anxiety, sadness, guilt, disgust, discouragement, hope, and contentment. Outcomes were openness to using moist snuff, snus, and e-cigarettes in the future and interest in a free sample of each product. Data were analyzed in 2016. Results. Hope was positively associated with openness and interest across all alternative tobacco products as was contentment for moist snuff and snus. Anger was negatively associated with openness to moist snuff and e-cigarettes, disgust negatively to moist snuff and snus, and anxiety negatively to e-cigarettes. Being a current smoker, ever trying a corresponding product, being male, and younger age were associated with greater openness to and interest in moist snuff and snus. For e-cigarettes, being a current smoker, ever trying e-cigarettes, and being female were associated with greater openness, and being a current smoker was associated with greater odds of selecting a free sample. Conclusions. Positive emotions, particularly hope, were consistently positively associated with interest in alternative tobacco products. Hope is widely used by tobacco and e-cigarette companies to advertise their products. Antitobacco messages should aim to lower hope associated with tobacco products but increase hope for cessation or life without tobacco.

Message fatigue: Conceptual definition, operationalization, and correlates

ABSTRACT Despite growing concern over the public’s fatigue toward inundated health messages, communication research has largely neglected such ramifications of prolonged, real-life campaign exposure. This paper offers an initial conceptual and empirical treatment of message fatigue, an important, but understudied, side effect of campaigns. Specifically, it proposes conceptual and operational definitions of the construct and examines psychometric characteristics of a proposed message fatigue scale. The findings from two studies concerning safe sex (N = 412) and anti-obesity messages (N = 396) demonstrated solid support for the scale’s unidimensionality. In support of construct validity, the scale exhibited significant associations with message avoidance, annoyance, information seeking, and desensitization. Moreover, in an experimental setting in Study 2, message fatigue negatively predicted attention and message elaboration, while positively predicting counterargument.

Which Type of Risk Information to Use for Whom? Moderating Role of Outcome-Relevant Involvement in the Effects of Statistical and Exemplified Risk Information on Risk Perceptions

The extant empirical research examining the effectiveness of statistical and exemplar-based health information is largely inconsistent. Under the premise that the inconsistency may be due to an unacknowledged moderator (O’Keefe, 2002), this study examined a moderating role of outcome-relevant involvement (Johnson & Eagly, 1989) in the effects of statistical and exemplified risk information on risk perception. Consistent with predictions based on elaboration likelihood model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1984), findings from an experiment (N = 237) concerning alcohol consumption risks showed that statistical risk information predicted risk perceptions of individuals with high, rather than low, involvement, while exemplified risk information predicted risk perceptions of those with low, rather than high, involvement. Moreover, statistical risk information contributed to negative attitude toward drinking via increased risk perception only for highly involved individuals, while exemplified risk information influenced the attitude through the same mechanism only for individuals with low involvement. Theoretical and practical implications for health risk communication are discussed.

Could watching TV be good for you? Examining how media consumption patterns relate to salivary cortisol

ABSTRACT This research explores whether media diet influences health, not through its effects on cognition and behavior but rather through its effects on biomarkers of stress, which are implicated in a host of acute and chronic illnesses. Two hundred and forty young adults completed assessments of their media consumption habits followed at least 2 days later by measures of the stress-related hormone cortisol. Results suggest that frequency of consuming different media and genres may decrease cortisol under certain conditions and increase them under others. Further, the patterns of results were wholly different from those found for perceived stress. The implications of these findings for health-related media effects and theoretical development are discussed.

Personalization of Risk Through Convergence of Self- and Character-Risk Narrative Effects on Social Distance and Self-Character Risk Perception Gap

This study reports a quasi-experiment (N= 374) that examined an underlying mechanism through which narratives can facilitate personalization of risk. The participants were exposed to one of four entertainment clips depicting an at-risk character who either tested positive or negative for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). As predicted, reduction of perceived social distance to an at-risk character resulted in a convergence of perceived self- and character-risk. More importantly, the convergence of risk was driven by an increased perception of self-risk, as opposed to a reduction of character-risk. The observed pattern of risk convergence was much more pronounced in the negative rather than the positive STD test narratives. Furthermore, narrative engagement through identification, parasocial interaction, and perceived realism led to a greater degree of risk convergence, which was mediated by reduction in perceived social distance. The order in which the subjects estimated self- and character-risk did not influence the perceptual gap.

Influence of Social Identity on Self-Efficacy Beliefs Through Perceived Social Support: A Social Identity Theory Perspective

While much research documents the influence of self-efficacy on enactment of health behaviors, relatively less attention has been given to the factors that influence self-efficacy. To enhance our understanding of the various sources of self-efficacy, this study integrated social identity theory into this context and proposed and tested a model, which describes a process through which social identity can influence self-efficacy of engaging in health-related behaviors. Consistent with the proposed meditational model, the findings showed that individuals who had stronger social identity with a given social group perceived greater social support from the group, which in turn predicted higher self-efficacy of engaging in a health-related behavior advocated by the group, and ultimately predicted greater behavioral intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Information Seeking Upon Exposure to Risk Messages: Predictors, Outcomes, and Mediating Roles of Health Information Seeking

Exposure to risk messages can motivate health information seeking, which can influence message acceptance or rejection. Theories of risk message design and effects (e.g., fear appeal models), however, have not considered information seeking as an integral part of the risk message processing. To address the gap, this experimental study (N = 927) offered participants an opportunity to seek threat- and/or coping-related information online after exposing them to a risk message about meningitis and recorded their information seeking activities unobtrusively. The findings indicated that information seeking increased self- and response-efficacy of meningitis vaccination. Information seeking was positively predicted by uncertainty discrepancy, perceived susceptibility, anxiety, and fear. More importantly, information seeking completely mediated the effects of perceived susceptibility and anxiety on an increase in self- and response-efficacy, and a decrease in message rejection. Information seeking also partially mediated the effects of perceived susceptibility and fear on an increase in message acceptance. Implications for health information seeking and risk communication research are discussed.

How Message Fatigue toward Health Messages Leads to Ineffective Persuasive Outcomes: Examining the Mediating Roles of Reactance and Inattention

Message fatigue refers to a state of being exhausted and tired of prolonged exposure to similarly-themed messages (e.g., anti-obesity messages; So, Kim, & Cohen, 2017). This study tests a mediational model that accounts for how one’s preexisting fatigue toward anti-obesity messages may contribute to two different types of resistance—reactance and disengagement—toward an incoming anti-obesity message, which, in turn, reduce intention to adopt weight-management behaviors advocated in the message. The proposed model was tested in an experimental study (N = 312) involving a sample of overweight or obese adults in the United States. In the meditational model, reactance significantly mediated the negative effects of message fatigue on intention to adopt only one of four weight-management behaviors promoted in the message. However, inattention, which was an operationalization of disengagement, significantly mediated the negative effects of message fatigue on behavioral intention to adopt all four weight-management behaviors. This study urges future research on message fatigue and resistance to persuasion to consider disengagement with a message as a significant barrier to effective health communication and to devise ways to increase engagement with messages communicating “overtaught” health issues.