Communicating uncertainties regarding COVID-19 vaccination: Moderating roles of trust in science, government, and society

This study examined how uncertainty affects information seeking and avoidance behaviors via information insufficiency in the COVID-19 vaccination context. It also investigated how trust in science, government, and society moderate the effects of information insufficiency. An online experiment with 131 Korean adults showed that uncertainty indirectly affects information seeking intentions via information insufficiency, which is moderated by science trust and governmental trust. It also showed that uncertainty indirectly affects information avoidance intentions via information insufficiency, which is moderated by social trust.

What drives older men who have sex with men in China away from AIDS information?

A worrying phenomenon has emerged recently: more people are deliberately avoiding rather than seeking information regarding acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). This is the first study to explore behaviors related to AIDS information avoidance and the potential influential factors among older men who have sex with men (MSM). We enrolled 11 older MSM from Wuhan, the largest city in central China, from January to March 2023 using a phenomenological method. This qualitative research was conducted using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. AIDS information avoidance was commonly observed among the respondents. Behaviors related to AIDS information avoidance included avoiding AIDS-related information, ignoring known AIDS information, and avoiding medical care. The main factors associated with AIDS information avoidance included information overload, high-risk sexual behaviors, over-optimism, fear of disclosure, and age. China should provide AIDS information in a manner suitable for older MSM, pay more attention to MSM over the age of 70 years, those who are not open about their sexual orientation and those who are too optimistic, and strengthen the censorship of AIDS information.

Generation Z's Health Information Avoidance Behavior: Insights From Focus Group Discussions

BACKGROUND

Younger generations actively use social media to access health information. However, research shows that they also avoid obtaining health information online at times when confronted with uncertainty.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to examine the phenomenon of health information avoidance among Generation Z, a representative cohort of active web users in this era.

METHODS

Drawing on the planned risk information avoidance model, we adopted a qualitative approach to explore the factors related to information avoidance within the context of health and risk communication. The researchers recruited 38 participants aged 16 to 25 years for the focus group discussion sessions.

RESULTS

In this study, we sought to perform a deductive qualitative analysis of the focus group interview content with open, focused, and theoretical coding. Our findings support several key components of the planned risk information avoidance model while highlighting the underlying influence of cognition on emotions. Specifically, socioculturally, group identity and social norms among peers lead some to avoid health information. Cognitively, mixed levels of risk perception, conflicting values, information overload, and low credibility of information sources elicited their information avoidance behaviors. Affectively, negative emotions such as anxiety, frustration, and the desire to stay positive contributed to avoidance.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has implications for understanding young users' information avoidance behaviors in both academia and practice.

Information Avoidance: Past Perspectives and Future Directions

In the present age of unprecedented access to information, it is important to understand how and why people avoid information. Multiple definitions of "information avoidance" exist, and key aspects of these definitions deserve attention, such as distinguishing information avoidance from (lack of) information seeking, considering the intentionality and temporal nature of information avoidance, and considering the personal relevance of the information. In this review, we provide a cross-disciplinary historical account of theories and empirical research on information avoidance and seeking, drawing from research in multiple fields. We provide a framework of antecedents of information avoidance, categorized into beliefs about the information (e.g., risk perceptions), beliefs about oneself (e.g., coping resources), and social and situational factors (e.g., social norms), noting that constructs across categories overlap and are intertwined. We suggest that research is needed on both positive and negative consequences of information avoidance and on interventions to reduce information avoidance (when appropriate). Research is also needed to better understand temporal dynamics of information avoidance and how it manifests in everyday life. Finally, comprehensive theoretical models are needed that differentiate avoidance from seeking. Research on information avoidance is quickly expanding, and the topic will only grow in importance.

The Effects of Implicit Theories on Body Weight Information Avoidance

Regular self-weighing is associated with more effective weight control, yet many individuals avoid weight-related information. Implicit theories about weight, or perceptions of how malleable weight is, predict more effortful weight management and may also influence weight-related information avoidance. Participants (N = 209) were randomly assigned to read an article stressing an incremental theory of weight (i.e., weight is malleable), an article stressing an entity theory (i.e., weight is fixed), or to a control condition. We then examined their self-reported preference to avoid their body composition (i.e., body fat, weight, and muscle composition), their willingness to have their body composition measured during the lab visit, and their eating and exercise intentions. There were no notable differences across conditions, but higher self-reported incremental beliefs predicted less self-reported avoidance of body composition. The findings suggest that implicit theories may influence weight-related information avoidance, but a brief manipulation is not powerful enough to create meaningful change.

Information Avoidance in Consumer Choice: Do Avoidance Tendencies and Motives Vary by Age?

Prior research suggests that older adults seek less information in consumer choices than younger adults do. However, it remains unclear if intentional information avoidance plays a role in such effects. To test this possibility, we examined age differences in deliberate information avoidance in consumer decisions and explored a range of potential motives. Adult lifespan samples completed two pre-registered online studies, which assessed information avoidance using a slider scale (Study 1, N =195) and a forced-choice task (Study 2, N = 500). In Study 1, age differences in information avoidance were not significant, but methodological limitations could have obscured age effects. In Study 2, age was associated with higher information avoidance. Avoidance was higher among participants who reported that the information would not impact decision preferences, would elicit more negative affect, and would be useless. Although age was associated with lower perceived impact on decision preferences and lower concerns about affective responses, age differences in information avoidance remained significant when these variables were statistically controlled. In conclusion, in the context of consumer choices, deliberate information avoidance is higher among older consumers. Thus, interventions to promote the acquisition of relevant information would benefit from being tailored to the target age group.

What Drives Elderly People in China Away from COVID-19 Information?

Background: A worrying phenomenon has emerged in recent years: a growing number of people have stopped seeking coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) information and have started deliberately avoiding it. Even though the virulence of COVID-19 has now weakened, the proportion of severe illnesses and deaths in elderly people is still much higher than in other age groups. However, no study has focused on this topic. This is the first study to explore the level of COVID-19 information avoidance among elderly people, and to identify the barriers and potential factors associated therewith. Methods: Convenience sampling was used to recruit 907 elderly people in Wuhan, China. Data collection measures included a sociodemographic questionnaire, health information avoidance scale, information overload scale, general self-efficacy scale, and health anxiety inventory. Results: A total of 72.3% of elderly participants reported COVID-19 information avoidance. Regarding COVID-19-related information reading habits, 44.5% of the elderly only read the title, 16.0% merely skimmed through the content, and 22.9% skipped all relevant information. The most common reasons for this result were information overload (67.5%), underestimation of the infection risk (58.1%), and uselessness of information (56.4%). The main factors associated with COVID-19 information avoidance were recorded as information overload, age, health anxiety, and children (p < 0.05). Conclusions: China should strengthen its health communication regarding COVID-19 in accordance with the characteristics of elderly people, adopt more attractive publicity methods on traditional media, improve censorship about health information, and pay more attention to the childless elderly and the elderly aged 80 and above.

Predictors of Psychological Distress and Coronavirus Fears in the First Recovery Phase of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in Germany

Objectives: While previous research has mainly focused on the impact of the first acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, little empirical knowledge exists about depression, anxiety, and somatic symptom levels and possible predictors of symptom levels in the pandemic's recovery phase. The present study aimed to analyze the mental burden of a convenience ample of the general German population during the first recovery phase of the pandemic and to identify significant predictors of symptom levels. Methods: Standardized measures of anxiety (GAD-2), depression (PHQ-2), somatic symptoms (PHQ-15), and health anxiety, as well as measures of COVID-19 fears and possible vulnerability factors, were administered through a national, cross-sectional online survey (n = 2160, mean age 42.7 years, 75% female), asking participants for their current symptom levels and their symptom levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Our findings show significantly elevated levels of depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, and health anxiety in the recovery period compared to before the pandemic. The current prevalence rates based on self-reporting were 26.7% for depression, 24.5% for anxiety, and 29% for somatization. The strongest predictors of these symptom reports included domain-specific pre-existing symptom levels, neuroticism, biological COVID-19 risk factors, avoidance of illness information, and younger age. The most important predictors of COVID-19 fears were subjective COVID-19 risk perception, followed by pre-existing health anxiety, the number of biological COVID-19 risk factors, older age, neuroticism, avoidance of illness information and female gender. Discussion: These findings indicate the need for specific psychological programs to help individuals with enhanced psychological and biological vulnerability to cope better with the mental distress experienced during all phases of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

The More Insufficient, the More Avoidance? Cognitive and Affective Factors that Relates to Information Behaviours in Acute Risks

This study examines the relationship between cognitive and affective factors and people's information-seeking and -avoiding behaviours in acute risks with a 1,946-sample online survey conducted in February 2020, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that perceived information insufficiency correlates negatively with information-seeking behaviour and there was an inverted U-shaped relationship between information insufficiency and avoidance behaviour. As for the risk-related cognitive factors, information seeking increases as perceived severity of risks rises, while information avoiding increases as perceived susceptibility rises. Perceived response efficacy positively correlates with information-seeking and negatively with information-avoidance behaviours. Preliminary results also indicated that different affective factors relate to information-seeking and avoidance behaviours differently.

Explaining cancer information avoidance comparing people with and without cancer experience in the family

OBJECTIVES

Cancer information avoidance (CIA) serves as a barrier to preventive efforts. To learn how to combat this barrier, we aim to examine predictors of CIA in populations with and without cancer experience in the family, which are addressed differently in cancer prevention, according to specific informational barriers.

METHODS

A subsample of people with and without cancer in the family (n = 2,757) of an online survey with a sample stratified for the German population by age, gender, education, and region was conducted via an online access panel. The survey instrument was adapted from the Health Information National Trends Survey. Separate stepwise regression analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Only a comparatively small proportion of the variance in CIA was explained by the predictors, ranging from R²  = .148 for people without cancer experience to R²  = .180 for participants with cancer experience in their family. Across the groups, the findings showed that people who were fatalistic about the risk of cancer, less health literate, who perceived less social pressure to be informed, and were less trusting in information sources more often avoided cancer information.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings identify relevant target groups to be addressed and barriers to be removed for cancer communication efforts. Adequate information provision can be supported by programs for fostering health literacy and social network diffusion strategies.

No Moral Wiggle Room in an Experimental Corruption Game

Recent experimental evidence reveals that information is often avoided by decision makers in order to create and exploit a so-called “moral wiggle room,” which reduces the psychological and moral costs associated with selfish behavior. Despite the relevance of this phenomenon for corrupt practices from both a legal and a moral point of view, it has hitherto never been examined in a corruption context. We test for information avoidance in a framed public procurement experiment, in which a public official receives bribes from two competing firms and often faces a tradeoff between maximizing bribes and citizen welfare. In a treatment where officials have the option to remain ignorant about the implications of their actions for citizens, we find practically no evidence of information avoidance. We discuss possible reasons for the absence of willful ignorance in our experiment.

Information Avoidance and Information Seeking Among Parents of Children With ASD

We estimated the effects of information avoidance and information seeking among parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on age of diagnosis. An online survey was completed by 1,815 parents of children with ASD. Children of parents who self-reported that they had preferred "not to know," reported diagnoses around 3 months later than other children. Children of parents who raised concerns that they perceived as having been dealt with adequately reported diagnoses about 4 months earlier, but the children of parents who reported raising concerns repeatedly and felt that those concerns were dealt with inadequately were diagnosed over a year later. These findings suggest that failure of educational and healthcare professionals, in either substituting for parents who avoid information, or supporting those who seek information, can significantly delay the age of diagnosis.

The Public's Risk Information Seeking and Avoidance in China During Early Stages of the COVID-19 Outbreak

This study uses the Planned Risk Information Seeking Model (PRISM) to estimate the public's information seeking and avoidance intentions during the COVID-19 outbreak based on an online sample of 1031 Chinese adults and provides support for the applicability of PRISM framework in the situation of a novel high-level risk. The results indicate that information seeking is primarily directed by informational subjective norms (ISN) and perceived seeking control (PSC), while the main predictors of information avoidance include ISN and attitude toward seeking. Because ISN are the strongest predictor of both information seeking and avoidance, the way the public copes with COVID-19 information may be strongly affected by individuals' social environment. Furthermore, a significant relationship between risk perception and affective risk response is identified. Our results also indicate that people who perceive greater knowledge of COVID-19 are more likely to report greater knowledge insufficiency, which results in less information avoidance.

Dealing With the COVID-19 Infodemic: Distress by Information, Information Avoidance, and Compliance With Preventive Measures

In the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, media reports have caused anxiety and distress in many. In some individuals, feeling distressed by information may lead to avoidance of information, which has been shown to undermine compliance with preventive health behaviors in many health domains (e.g., cancer screenings). We set out to examine whether feeling distressed by information predicts higher avoidance of information about COVID-19 (avoidance hypothesis), and whether this, in turn, predicts worse compliance with measures intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (compliance hypothesis). Thus, we conducted an online survey with a convenience sample (N = 1,059, 79.4% female) and assessed distress by information, information avoidance, and compliance with preventive measures. Furthermore, we inquired about participants' information seeking behavior and media usage, their trust in information sources, and level of eHealth literacy, as well as generalized anxiety. We conducted multiple linear regression analyses to predict distress by information, information avoidance, and compliance with preventive measures. Overall, distress by information was associated with better compliance. However, distress was also linked with an increased tendency to avoid information (avoidance hypothesis), and this reduced compliance with preventive measures (compliance hypothesis). Thus, distress may generally induce adaptive behavior in support of crisis management, unless individuals respond to it by avoiding information. These findings provide insights into the consequences of distress by information and avoidance of information during a global health crisis. These results underscore that avoiding information is a maladaptive response to distress by information, which may ultimately interfere with effective crisis management. Consequently, we emphasize the need to develop measures to counteract information avoidance.

The Role of Information Avoidance in Managing Uncertainty from Conflicting Recommendations about Electronic Cigarettes

Insufficient scientific evidence about electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has led to conflicting recommendations (CRs) by credible scientific organizations, creating a public health debate that could prove especially difficult to reconcile as current and former smokers make decisions about whether to use e-cigarettes. To investigate how CRs about e-cigarettes may affect intentions to engage in healthy behaviors, 717 former and current smokers were randomly exposed to one of five conditions (varying in the level of conflict in recommendations) in this between-subject experiment. Our results indicated a significant interaction between the message level of conflict and individuals' information avoidance, employed to maintain hope and deniability. These results suggest the effects of CRs stemming from scientific uncertainty vary with subgroups of people, pointing to several pressing theoretical and practical implications.