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Does Science Literacy Guarantee Resistance to Health Rumors? The Moderating Effect of Self-Efficacy of Science Literacy in the Relationship between Science Literacy and Rumor Belief

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  • Lingnan He

    (School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
    Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
    Guangdong Key Laboratory for Big Data Analysis and Simulation of Public Opinion, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Yue Chen

    (School of Communication and Design, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China)

  • Xiling Xiong

    (School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai 519000, China)

  • Xiqian Zou

    (School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China)

  • Kaisheng Lai

    (School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China)

Abstract

Health rumors not only incite unnecessary fears and skepticism, but may also cause individuals to refuse effective remedy and thus delay their treatment. Studies have found that health literacy may help the public identify the falsity of health rumors and avoid their negative impact. However, whether other types of literacy work in helping people disbelieve health rumors is still unknown. With a national survey in China (N = 1646), our study examined the effect of science literacy on rumor belief and further analyzed the moderating role of self-efficacy of science literacy in their relationship. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that science literacy significantly decreased the likelihood of people believing in health rumors, and moderator analysis showed that self-efficacy of science literacy plays a moderating role in this relationship; such that the relationship between science literacy and health rumor belief would be weakened if one′s self-efficacy of science literacy was low. This finding reveals that during campaigns to combat health rumors, improving and enhancing the self-efficacy of people′s science literacy is an effective way to prevent them from believing in health rumors. Our study highlights the benefits of science education in public health and the improvement of public science literacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Lingnan He & Yue Chen & Xiling Xiong & Xiqian Zou & Kaisheng Lai, 2021. "Does Science Literacy Guarantee Resistance to Health Rumors? The Moderating Effect of Self-Efficacy of Science Literacy in the Relationship between Science Literacy and Rumor Belief," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-10, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2243-:d:505103
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nicholas DiFonzo, 2013. "Rumour research can douse digital wildfires," Nature, Nature, vol. 493(7431), pages 135-135, January.
    2. Lingnan He & Haoshen Yang & Xiling Xiong & Kaisheng Lai, 2019. "Online Rumor Transmission Among Younger and Older Adults," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(3), pages 21582440198, September.
    3. Kathleen D. Dyer & Raymond E. Hall, 2019. "Effect of Critical Thinking Education on Epistemically Unwarranted Beliefs in College Students," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 60(3), pages 293-314, May.
    4. Fisher, Robert J, 1993. "Social Desirability Bias and the Validity of Indirect Questioning," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 303-315, September.
    5. Hu, Yuhan & Pan, Qiuhui & Hou, Wenbing & He, Mingfeng, 2018. "Rumor spreading model considering the proportion of wisemen in the crowd," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 505(C), pages 1084-1094.
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    Cited by:

    1. Nanae Tanemura & Tsuyoshi Chiba, 2022. "The usefulness of a checklist approach-based confirmation scheme in identifying unreliable COVID-19-related health information: a case study in Japan," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Jennifer Dykema & Cameron P. Jones & Dana Garbarski & Mia Farias & Dorothy Farrar Edwards, 2022. "Exploring the Relationship between Medical Research Literacy and Respondents’ Expressed Likelihood to Participate in a Clinical Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-13, November.
    3. Lingfei Wang & Mengmeng Yue & Guoyan Wang, 2023. "Too Real to be Questioned: Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Spread of Online Scientific Rumors in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.

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