| The post-epidemic era has seen particularly strong growth in health rumors.The low health literacy and rumor discernment ability make middle-aged and older people prone to believe and spread rumors,which has an important impact on interpersonal and family relationships.In this context,this paper takes middle-aged and older people over 45 years old as the research target,combines the theory of "Knowledge Attitude and Practice",analyzes the whole process from knowing,believing and spreading rumors through questionnaires and in-depth interviews,and explores the motivation of their rumor spreading behavior.The study also proposes corresponding measures to help middle-aged and elderly people prevent and dispel rumors.It was found that most middle-aged and older adults have a strong willingness to spread health rumors.Anxious emotional psychology,rumor discrimination ability,frequency of rumor exposure,degree of family interaction and willingness of offspring to feed back all influence the health rumor spreading behavior of middle-aged and older adults.Health rumor spreading behavior is the result of the combined effect of individual psychology,family intergenerational relationships and media messages.Among them,driven by individual psychological motivation,health rumor spreading can alleviate anxiety,expand interpersonal interactions and satisfy the need for face-saving.In family intergenerational relationships,the duties of elders,the willingness of offspring to digitally feed and the lack of daily communication influence health rumor spreading behavior.In addition,lagging media health information disclosure,lack of gate-keeping,and differences in access to health information channels also influence health rumor spreading behavior.Based on this,this paper proposes strategies to prevent and control the spread of health rumors among middle-aged and elderly people,all of which require the active cooperation of middle-aged and elderly people themselves,their children and the media.Strengthening the digital disinformation skills of middle-aged and older adults,active literacy feeding by their offspring,and enriching disinformation paths by the media to curb the spread of health rumors will jointly help middle-aged and older adults avoid potential rumor risks. |
