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.

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.

Background: Despite prior studies have shown the impacts of different types of social media use on adolescent’s mental health can vary, little is known about why and when these differences occur. Thus, this study investigated the effects of different types of social media use—public active use, private active use, and passive use—on adolescent mental health through Self-Determination Theory’s three basic psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, and competence), and how these effects are shaped by the quality of offline relationships. Methods: A two-wave panel study with five-month interval was conducted among 343 randomly selected Chinese adolescents aged 11 to 17 (from grade 7 to grade 11). Results: Findings showed that no direct effects of any type of social media use on mental health outcomes over time, while private active social media use significantly predicted the fulfillment of relatedness needs and positively contributed to subsequent life satisfaction. The “poor get richer” and “rich get richer” of social media use hypotheses were supported. Specifically, for adolescents with low-quality offline relationships, public active social media use promoted the satisfaction of competence needs and thus decreased depression, and promoted competence and autonomy satisfaction and thus increased life satisfaction. For adolescents with high-quality offline relationships, private active social media use facilitated relatedness satisfaction, subsequently enhancing life satisfaction. Conclusion: This study introduces an explanatory boundary condition for the diversity of psychological reactions stemming from different types of social media use, and underscores the significance of personalized guidance for adolescents’ social media use.

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between various types of burnout, coping strategies, and resilience among healthcare professionals through a transactional model of stress and coping framework. Methods: A sample of healthcare professionals (HCPs; N = 647) from various hospitals across China responded to an online questionnaire survey, and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the proposed interaction model. Results: Emotional exhaustion and reduced personal accomplishment negatively predicted resilience, while depersonalization positively predicted resilience. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization positively predicted emotion-oriented strategies, and depersonalization negatively predicted problem-oriented strategies. Reduced personal accomplishment negatively predicted problem-oriented and avoidance-oriented strategies. Emotion-oriented strategies negatively predicted resilience, while problem-oriented and avoidance-oriented strategies positively predicted resilience. Mediation analysis revealed that emotion-oriented strategies significantly mediated the relationships between emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and resilience; avoidance-oriented strategies significantly mediated the relationships between depersonalization, reduced personal accomplishment, and resilience; and problem-oriented strategies mediated the relationships between reduced personal accomplishment and resilience. Conclusions/Applications to Practice: The conclusions of this study may enhance the effectiveness of interventions for HCPs by providing insights into the specific effects of different burnout coping strategies. Particular attention should be given to HCPs experiencing a high level of reduced personal accomplishment burnout, and interventions for this subtype should emphasize problem-oriented strategies and the moderate adoption of avoidance strategies to best promote resilience.