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Factors Influencing Rumour Re-Spreading in a Public Health Crisis by the Middle-Aged and Elderly Populations

Author

Listed:
  • Zhonggen Sun

    (School of Public Administration, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu, China)

  • Xin Cheng

    (School of Public Administration, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu, China)

  • Ruilian Zhang

    (Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia)

  • Bingqing Yang

    (School of Public Administration, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, Jiangsu, China)

Abstract

Due to discrimination and media literacy, middle-aged and elderly individuals have been easily reduced to marginalized groups in the identification of rumours during a public health crisis and can easily spread rumours repeatedly, which has a negative impact on pandemic prevention and social psychology. To further clarify the factors influencing their behaviours, this study used a questionnaire to survey a sample of 556 individuals in China and used multiple linear regression and analysis of variance to explore influencing factors during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We found that, first, in the COVID-19 pandemic, middle-aged and elderly adults’ willingness to re-spread rumours is positively related to their degree of believing rumours and to personal anxiety and is negatively related to their rumour-discrimination ability and to their perception of serious consequences to rumour spreading. Second, the degree of believing rumours plays an intermediary role in the willingness to re-spread rumours. It plays a partial mediating role in the path of anxiety’s influence on behaviour, suggesting that an anxious person will spread a rumour even if he or she does not have a strong belief in the rumour. Third, interpersonal communication has a greater credibility and a greater willingness to re-spread than does mass communication. This suggests the importance of increasing public knowledge expertise and of reducing public panic. This also has important implications for the future design of public health policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhonggen Sun & Xin Cheng & Ruilian Zhang & Bingqing Yang, 2020. "Factors Influencing Rumour Re-Spreading in a Public Health Crisis by the Middle-Aged and Elderly Populations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-14, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6542-:d:410645
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Zhonggen Sun & Bingqing Yang & Ruilian Zhang & Xin Cheng, 2020. "Influencing Factors of Understanding COVID-19 Risks and Coping Behaviors among the Elderly Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Zhu, Linhe & Guan, Gui, 2019. "Dynamical analysis of a rumor spreading model with self-discrimination and time delay in complex networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 533(C).
    3. Hu, Yuhan & Pan, Qiuhui & Hou, Wenbing & He, Mingfeng, 2018. "Rumor spreading model with the different attitudes towards rumors," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 502(C), pages 331-344.
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    Cited by:

    1. Adrian Kwek & Luke Peh & Josef Tan & Jin Xing Lee, 2023. "Distractions, analytical thinking and falling for fake news: A survey of psychological factors," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Qian Ding & Xingyu Luo, 2022. "People with High Perceived Infectability Are More Likely to Spread Rumors in the Context of COVID-19: A Behavioral Immune System Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-10, December.

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