The Role of Harm, Misinformer Age, and Information Scrutiny on Adolescents’ Trust in Misinformation

Adolescents’ online habits may contribute to the spread of misinformation due to their preference for trusted peers as sources of information over credible sources. This propensity can also make adolescents a population more vulnerable to misinformation, particularly during crises when misinformation levels surge. In situations of uncertainty and risk, such as during public health crises, trust plays an important and influential role. This study explored whether adolescents’ trust in an individual sharing misinformation, and trust in their misinformation about Covid-19, differed based on adolescents’ perceived risk of harm from Covid-19 (risk vs reduced risk) and the age of the misinformer (peer vs adult). When shown misinformation about a hypothetical Covid-19 variant, adolescents ( N = 131; 14–17 years old) trusted a misinformer more when there was a perceived risk of harm to their age group. Adolescents were also asked to provide open-ended justifications for their trust evaluations which were analysed in accordance with the elaboration likelihood model. We found that adolescents who reported to more regularly scrutinising information were more likely to consider information and source credibility when there was a perceived risk of harm to their age group. Adolescents who reported engaging in less information-scrutinising behaviours were more likely to consider their relationship with the misinformer when the misinformer was a peer. These findings suggest how the elaboration likelihood model can play an important role in risk communication amongst adolescents and emphasise the need for educating adolescents about the importance of scrutinising information, particularly during crises.