Effects on Health Information in Mainstream Media on Generation Z's Intention of Reducing Stay-up-late Behavior

Abstract

With the continuous development of Internet technology, domestic mainstream media gradually use Weibo as the main tool for health communication. Recently stay-up-late become one of the most concerning health issues among young people in China. Young people also pay attention to the related health information posted by mainstream media on Weibo. The research question of this paper was to explore the effects of health information in mainstream media on social media on Generation Z's intention of reducing stay-up-late behavior. This paper designed a conceptual framework based on The Extended Parallel Process Model and hypothesized that self-efficacy, response efficacy, perceived susceptibility and perceived severity all have an impact on Generation Z's intention of reducing stay-up-late behavior. This paper designed a questionnaire scale to collect data and conducted regression analysis using SPSS 24.0 to validate and correct the model. This study concluded that health information about staying up late posted by mainstream media positively influenced Generation Z's intention of reducing stay-up-late behavior through self-Efficacy, response efficacy and perceived severity. Unlike previous studies, the effect of perceived susceptibility was not significant. Based on these findings, this study proposes suggestions for the health communication content of mainstream media on Weibo, hoping to provide a new conclusion for other scholars who study health communication in mainstream media, and to better promote the willingness of domestic Generation Z to reduce stay-up-late behavior and to appeal to their healthy sleep and healthy life.