Public trust in sources and channels on judgment accuracy in food safety misinformation with the moderation effect of self‐affirmation: Evidence from the HINTS‐China database

• Published date: 01 June 2023
• Author: Ya Yang,Guoming Yu,Jiabao Pan,Gary L. Kreps
• Date: 01 June 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.544

Received: 13 May 2022

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Accepted: 25 June 2022

DOI: 10.1002/wmh3.544

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Public trust in sources and channels on

judgment accuracy in food safety

misinformation with the moderation effect of

self‐affirmation: Evidence from the HINTS‐

China database

Ya Yang

1

|Guoming Yu

1

|Jiabao Pan

2

|Gary L. Kreps

3

1

School of Journalism and Communication,

Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

2

School of Culture and Communication,

Central University of Finance and Economics,

Beijing, China

3

Department of Communication, Center for

Health and Risk Communication, George

Mason University, Virginia, USA

Correspondence

Ya Yang and Guoming Yu, School of

Journalism and Communication, Beijing

Normal University, Beijing, China.

Email: yangya@bnu.edu.cn and

yuguoming@126.com

Abstract

This paper describes the developmentand introduction of an

important new international health survey research pro-

gram, HINTS‐China, which builds upon HINTS, the

established national repeated‐measure US‐based survey

that has been used over the past decade to inform national

public health policies. The major goal of the first two

administrations of the HINTS‐China surveys in 2012 and

2017 was to examine health communication patterns and

trends related to the access and use of relevant health

information in China. The HINTS surveys, both in the United

States and in China, recognize that health is a social as well

as a biological phenomenon, involving communication to

inform the public about healthy behaviors and lifestyles. The

preliminary results of the two HINTS‐China surveys have

provided important insights into important health issues in

China, including problems concerning food safety mis-

information, the power of interpersonal communication as a

major source of health information, the strong influences of

television in shaping public knowledge about health issues,

and about the perceived credibility and trust of different

health information sources in China. The surveys found that

socioeconomic status serves as a significant predictor of

accurate public judgments about food safety misinformation,

that the public tends to trust traditional media (print, radio,

and television) for accessing health information more than

World Medical & Health Policy. 2023;15:148–162.148

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wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/wmh3

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© 2022 The Authors. World Medical & Health Policy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Policy Studies Organization.