This study examines the emotional mechanisms of how public trust in the governments’ actions to address the COVID-19 pandemic shapes individuals’ risk information-seeking and avoidance. To make cross-cultural comparisons, we conducted a multi-country survey early in the pandemic in South Korea, the United States (US) and Singapore. The results suggest that trust was negatively related to fear, anger, sadness and anxiety, and positively related to hope. These emotions were significant mediators of the effect of trust on information seeking and avoidance, except for anger on avoidance. Importantly, the indirect effects of trust in government varied by country. Fear was a stronger mediator between trust and information seeking in South Korea than in the US. In contrast, sadness and anger played more prominent mediating roles in Singapore than in South Korea. This study offers theoretical insights into better understanding the roles of discrete emotions in forming information behaviors. The findings of this study also inform communication strategies that seek to navigate trust in managing pandemics that impact multiple nations.

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.

The release of Fukushima’s radioactive water has important consequences for public health in Japan, the wider region and further afield. Whereas earlier studies of information seeking on risks and trust have tended to relate to risk governance at the national level, this case poses more international dimensions, such as how those in South Korea consider and seek risk information, given Korea’s close proximity to Japan. In this study we examine the South Korean public’s motivation to seek information about risks related to Fukushima’s radioactive water, through analysis of primary survey data. A total of 1,500 Korean residents, recruited via a national survey company, participated in this study. Our findings indicate that negative affect such as anxiety and anger, trust in the Korean government, and controllability of the issue by oneself and experts were determinants for seeking information. We develop specifications regarding personal control in hazard characteristics as a way of contributing to the Risk Information Seeking and Processing model analytical approach. These findings can help inform risk communication strategies and wider governance of environmental public health risks.

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.

Virtual reality technology has been positioned as a useful tool for the promotion of public health. This study explored how exposure to a virtual reality handwashing promotion video influences users’ handwashing intention. Structural equation modeling analysis with data collected from college students in South Korea revealed that presence in the virtual reality environment was positively correlated with flow. We also found that flow played an important role in increasing levels of message acceptance and fear responses related to the content of the handwashing promotion video. Moreover, the greater the level of message acceptance of the handwashing promotion content, the more favorable users’ attitude toward handwashing. This, in turn, helped facilitate handwashing intention. The findings of the current study further our understanding of the psychological mechanism driving the impact of virtual reality as a health promotion tool for fostering people’s intention to engage in preventive health behavior.