The Search Between Two Worlds: Motivations for and Consequences of U.S.-Dwelling Chinese’s Use of U.S. and Chinese Media for COVID-19 Information

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to inflict damage throughout the world, some minority groups are bearing a disproportionate share of its impacts. We concentrated on one such group, U.S.-dwelling Chinese, who have had to cope with challenges related to acculturation, health, safety, and racism. Recognizing that health information seeking was an essential step in helping maintain and improve health behaviors, we conducted a two-wave longitudinal study ( N = 1,284) to examine the various factors predicting U.S.-dwelling Chinese’s use of U.S. and Chinese media for COVID-19 information as well as the consequences of their information seeking. Overall, we found that acculturation, accuracy (i.e., information insufficiency) and defense (i.e., conspiratorial beliefs) motivations, trust in media, and perceived information gathering capacity played a key role in explaining information seeking from an intercultural viewpoint, and that the use of U.S. and Chinese media was associated with different health behaviors. These findings contribute to theory and practice in a variety of ways.