Analyzing national online panel survey data in South Korea, this study explored how social media use is associated with attitude toward suicide. Furthermore, we examined the mediating paths by which social media use is associated with the formation of one's attitude toward suicide mediated by psychological well-being, social support, and social isolation. The study found that psychological well-being and social isolation mediated the relationship between social media use and attitude toward suicide. Social media use was positively associated with psychological well-being and negatively associated with social isolation. A higher level of psychological well-being was related to negative attitude toward suicide, whereas a higher level of social isolation was associated with positive attitude toward suicide. This study provides an understanding of the impact of social media use on attitude toward suicide and implications for suicide-prevention strategy using social media.

This study advances communication infrastructure theory by testing the effects of an integrated community storytelling network (ICSN) and social media as a newly emerging community storytelling agent on civic engagement. A nationwide survey in South Korea indicates that, while ICSN is a robust driving force for civic engagement, social media news use and social media news expression played a vital role in promoting collective efficacy as well as neighborhood belonging and online civic participation, respectively. In particular, social media news use moderated the effects of ICSN on offline and online civic participation. These findings suggest that social media as an emerging storytelling network in the CIT framework can play distinct yet selective roles in predicting civic engagement.

Social networking sites (SNS) are becoming one of the most significant platforms for social interaction and information exchange in epidemics. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about what facilitates or hinders individuals’ engagement in information exchange in the event of an infectious disease outbreak. This study examined the effects of potential predictors that might be associated with the expression and reception of information on SNS during the South Korea Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak. Analysis of an online survey among 1000 adults from the general population of South Korea showed that expressing and receiving MERS-related information were predicted differentially by diverse social-demographic, socio-economic, and psychosocial factors. Among psychosocial characteristics, risk perceptions and self-efficacy interacted with each other to predict the expression and reception of MERS-related information. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

This study examined how social media use is associated with risk perception and social distancing as preventive behavior, which in turn can elicit negative emotions. The study is based on data collected from a nationwide online panel survey conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea. Results show that social media use directly and indirectly impacts people’s negative emotions through risk perception and social distancing. The analysis also shows that risk perception and social distancing directly influence negative emotions, which plays a mediating role in the relationship between social media use and negative emotions. The findings of the study provide important implications for effective risk and health communication and health policy during an infectious disease outbreak.

The three-dimensional (3D) virtual reality content is widely used for educational and training purposes, and there has been interest in how virtual reality environments influence users’ learning effect. Analyzing survey data collected from a game play, this study examined how presence in a 3D virtual reality car driving simulation game impacts players’ learning transfer intention through flow, arousal, and enjoyment. Using structural equation modeling, the results showed that presence was positively associated with flow and arousal, which in turn contributed to an increase in enjoyment of the game. The enjoyment played a significant role in elevating the players’ learning transfer intention. These results provide an understanding of the psychological mechanisms behind the impact of presence on learning transfer intention in a 3D virtual reality driving simulation game. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed in greater detail.

Social media are important channels to propagate health information and influence preventive behavior during a public health crisis, as witnessed during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). This study explored the association between social media use and preventive behavior during the outbreak of COVID-19 in South Korea. Using the national survey data ( N = 1,500), the study examined the mediating role of social norms in the association between social media use for news and information about COVID-19 and preventive behavior. In addition, the study tested the moderating effect of self-efficacy on the mediating path of social media use for preventive behavior via social norms. Conducting a moderated mediation analysis method, this study found that social norms mediated the relationship between social media use and preventive behavior ( b = 0.046). Moreover, the study revealed that the indirect relationship between social media use and preventive behavior through social norms becomes stronger as an individual’s level of self-efficacy decreases (low: b = 0.044, middle: b = 0.036, and high: b = 0.030). The study provides empirical evidence of the beneficial impact of social media use on preventive behavior. The findings of the study recommend promoting messages on social norms through social media for facilitating preventive behavior.