IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i9p4669-d544758.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Quality of Life Act as a Protective Factor against Believing Health Rumors? Evidence from a National Cross-Sectional Survey in China

Author

Listed:
  • Haixia Wang

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

  • Xiqian Zou

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

  • Kaisheng Lai

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

  • Weiping Luo

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

  • 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)

Abstract

A high quality of life (QoL), an individual’s subjective assessment of overall life condition, has been shown to have a protective effect against negative behaviors. However, whether QoL protects people from the harmful impact of health rumors is still unknown. In this study, a national survey in China (n = 3633) was conducted to explore the relationship between health rumor belief (HRB) and QoL, which includes physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains. The results show that people with a poor perception of their physical health are more likely to believe health rumors. Additionally, those who had better self-reported satisfaction in social relationships were more susceptible to health rumors. Furthermore, women and older adults showed a greater belief in health rumors. This study expands upon our understanding of how people with different QoL levels interact with false health-related information. Based on health-rumor-susceptible groups, several essential online and offline strategies to govern health rumors are also proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Haixia Wang & Xiqian Zou & Kaisheng Lai & Weiping Luo & Lingnan He, 2021. "Does Quality of Life Act as a Protective Factor against Believing Health Rumors? Evidence from a National Cross-Sectional Survey in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-10, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4669-:d:544758
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4669/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4669/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Costanza, Robert & Fisher, Brendan & Ali, Saleem & Beer, Caroline & Bond, Lynne & Boumans, Roelof & Danigelis, Nicholas L. & Dickinson, Jennifer & Elliott, Carolyn & Farley, Joshua & Gayer, Diane Elli, 2007. "Quality of life: An approach integrating opportunities, human needs, and subjective well-being," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 267-276, March.
    2. Berinsky, Adam J., 2017. "Rumors and Health Care Reform: Experiments in Political Misinformation," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 241-262, April.
    3. 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.
    4. Matthew Barnidge & Cynthia Peacock, 2019. "A Third Wave of Selective Exposure Research? The Challenges Posed by Hyperpartisan News on Social Media," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(3), pages 4-7.
    5. Yasuharu Tokuda & Masamine Jimba & Haruo Yanai & Seiji Fujii & Takashi Inoguchi, 2008. "Interpersonal Trust and Quality-of-Life: A Cross-Sectional Study in Japan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(12), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Afassinou, Komi, 2014. "Analysis of the impact of education rate on the rumor spreading mechanism," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 414(C), pages 43-52.
    7. Huan-Hwa Chen & Chich-Hsiu Hung & Ai-Wen Kao & Hsiu-Fen Hsieh, 2021. "Exploring Quality of Life, Stress, and Risk Factors Associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome for Female University Students in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-13, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kaisheng Lai & Yingxin Yang & Yuxiang Na & Haixia Wang, 2022. "The Relationship between Bullshit Receptivity and Willingness to Share Misinformation about Climate Change: The Moderating Role of Pregnancy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-14, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lu, Peng, 2019. "Heterogeneity, judgment, and social trust of agents in rumor spreading," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 350(C), pages 447-461.
    2. Lu, Peng & Yao, Qi & Lu, Pengfei, 2019. "Two-stage predictions of evolutionary dynamics during the rumor dissemination," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 517(C), pages 349-369.
    3. Huo, Liang’an & Chen, Sijing, 2020. "Rumor propagation model with consideration of scientific knowledge level and social reinforcement in heterogeneous network," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 559(C).
    4. Li, Dandan & Ma, Jing, 2017. "How the government’s punishment and individual’s sensitivity affect the rumor spreading in online social networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 469(C), pages 284-292.
    5. Anna Kovacs-Györi & Pablo Cabrera-Barona & Bernd Resch & Michael Mehaffy & Thomas Blaschke, 2019. "Assessing and Representing Livability through the Analysis of Residential Preference," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-23, September.
    6. Hosni, Adil Imad Eddine & Li, Kan & Ahmad, Sadique, 2020. "Analysis of the impact of online social networks addiction on the propagation of rumors," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 542(C).
    7. Yu-Chuan Chen & Yung-Ho Chiu & Tzu-Han Chang & Tai-Yu Lin, 2023. "Sustainable Development, Government Efficiency, and People’s Happiness," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1549-1578, April.
    8. Zhang, Jing & Wang, Xiaoli & Xie, Yanxi & Wang, Meihua, 2022. "Research on multi-topic network public opinion propagation model with time delay in emergencies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 600(C).
    9. Zhenhua Zheng & Hong Chen & Junling Gao, 2021. "Age Differences in the Influence of Residential Environment and Behavior on the Life Quality of Older Adults: The Transfer from Physical-Environment to Social-Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-14, January.
    10. Bieling, Claudia & Plieninger, Tobias & Pirker, Heidemarie & Vogl, Christian R., 2014. "Linkages between landscapes and human well-being: An empirical exploration with short interviews," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 19-30.
    11. O'Donnell, Gus & Oswald, Andrew J., 2015. "National well-being policy and a weighted approach to human feelings," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 59-70.
    12. Maxime Lepoutre, 2023. "Discursive optimism defended," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 22(3), pages 357-374, August.
    13. Ran, Maojie & Chen, Jiancu, 2021. "An information dissemination model based on positive and negative interference in social networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 572(C).
    14. Zhenzhen Qin & Yao Song, 2020. "The Sacred Power of Beauty: Examining the Perceptual Effect of Buddhist Symbols on Happiness and Life Satisfaction in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-19, April.
    15. Claborn, Kelly A. & Brooks, Jeremy S., 2019. "Can We Consume Less and Gain More? Environmental Efficiency of Well-being at the Individual Level," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 110-120.
    16. Herziger, Atar & Claborn, Kelly A. & Brooks, Jeremy S., 2020. "Is There Hope for the Double Dividend? How Social Context Can Shape Synergies and Tradeoffs between Sustainable Consumption and Well-Being," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    17. Tushar Bharati & Wina Yoman, 2021. "Internal Migration and Labor Market Outcomes in Indonesia," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-05, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    18. Matthys, Marie-Luise & Acharya, Sushant & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2021. "“Before cardamom, we used to face hardship”: Analyzing agricultural commercialization effects in Nepal through a local concept of the Good Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    19. Viswanath Venkatesh & Tracy Ann Sykes, 2013. "Digital Divide Initiative Success in Developing Countries: A Longitudinal Field Study in a Village in India," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 239-260, June.
    20. Musa Pazhuhan & Saeed Zanganeh Shahraki & Niloofar Kaveerad & Sirio Cividino & Matteo Clemente & Luca Salvati, 2020. "Factors Underlying Life Quality in Urban Contexts: Evidence from an Industrial City (Arak, Iran)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4669-:d:544758. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.