Yu Guo

Macau University of Science and Technology | MUST · Faculty of Humanities and Arts

Through a between-subjects, 2 [message framing: gain versus loss] × 2 [vaccine safety information sources: official authorities versus vaccinated laypeople] full factorial survey experiment, this study examined how individuals’ intentions to get COVID-19 vaccine were influenced by the framing of health campaign messages and vaccine safety informati...

Rationale The booster vaccine plays a key role in ending COVID-19 crisis. However, promoting COVID-19 booster vaccination often interferes with individuals’ freedom of choice and leads to psychological reactance. Objective To promote the public's intention to receive COVID-19 booster dose, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of diffe...

The current study employs psychological distance theory and the co-benefit frame to explore message framing strategies on social media to promote public support in climate change mitigation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This online 2 × 2 × 2 experiment recruited 708 Chinese college students to examine the effect of temporal distance (2025 vs. 2050)...

Background: Social media is playing an increasingly important role in public emergencies for help-seekers, especially during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Wuhan, China, firstly official reported COVID-19 cases and implemented lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the virus. People during the first lockdown were restricted from seeking help fa...

Adopting health preventive actions is one of the most effective ways to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the theory of planned behavior and the orientation–stimulus–orientation–response model, this study investigated the mechanisms by which health information exposure influenced individuals to adopt self-protective behaviors in the context of...

Attempting to explore social media’s role in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign, the present study concentrated on Weibo, the most popular microblogging service in China, and examined HPV vaccine-related information in 1,221 posts shared within 1½ years, during the time of which two key HPV vaccines were officially launched in the mark...

Physician–patient conflicts are detrimental to doctor–patient relationship and sustainable healthcare delivery. In China, the status quo of the doctor–patient relationship is in great tension. Based on the uncertainty reduction theory (URT), the present study examined the relationship between patient-centered communication (PCC) and medical conflic...

This exploratory study examines how young Japanese people’s emotion, risk-benefit perception, and interaction intention toward AI-powered communication robots are related to their media exposure. Analyses were based on data collected from a sample of 141 Japanese college students. Findings suggest that reading newspapers can foster positive emotion...

This study investigated social support exchanges on social media among male homosexuals who are HIV-positive (MHHP) in China and explored how online self-disclosure relates to such activity. Analyses were based on 9,459 Weibo messages posted by 188 targeted users. Results showed that the informational and emotional support messages were prevalent i...

This study predicts Japanese public’s risk perception and anxiety regarding nuclear radiation. These affective reactions are assumed to have direct relationships with subjective knowledge and trust in government, which can be influenced by news media coverage in the post-Fukushima era. Data were collected from a sample of 992 Japanese adults. Resul...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore and compare haze-related content between traditional and social media in China by applying agenda-setting theory and the extended parallel process model (EPPM). Specifically, this paper examines the correlation between the two forms of media in terms of the ranking of the attributes of haze (i.e. the...

Background: Due to a double stigma against HIV/AIDS and homosexuality, gay men living with HIV/AIDS (GMLHA) have used social media to exchange social support. The current study aims to examine the influence of perceived threat on seeking social support on social media among Chinese GMLHA. Methods: First, Weibo posts from 133 GMLHA were content a...

This study investigates the amplification effect of the Internet on Chinese people’s air pollution risk perception. Analyses are based on data collected from a sample of Internet users in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou (N = 328). This study assumes that the characteristics of online information ‒ availability of information and affect in informat...

Purpose – Attempting to explore the role of direct experience in influencing disaster consciousness and public opinion, the purpose of this paper is to carry out comparative analyses of Japanese people’s knowledge, risk perception, and policy preference about large-scale earthquake disaster before and after the Great East Japan Earthquake. More im...

This study predicts information seeking in the context of earthquake risk. Considering the influence of today's media environment, this study investigates individuals’ interpretation and use of risk information to explore the mechanisms of media effects for a better public-focused risk communication. Based on the social cognitive theory, a path mod...

By integrating useful insights from social cognitive theory and social capital theory, we aim to develop a model for better understanding people's behaviors related to the use of social networking sites (SNSs) and formalize the role of social capital in individuals' continuous SNS use. Propositions that emphasize the triadic interactive relationshi...

Abstract This study investigated how social networking sites (SNSs) use by Chinese international students in Japan influenced their perceived social capital and psychological well-being. In addition, it examined how, as sojourners, Chinese international students' perceived acculturative stress varied. Data were collected from 142 Chinese internatio...