Effects Of Health–related Information On Social Media On University Students' Health Behavior And Cognition

BackgroundWith the quick development of technology,health related information on social media become more and more available for people.The number of university students who use social media as an access to health related information online begins to increase.Meanwhile,health related information on social media affects some health behaviors of university students.This research explores how the health information on social media influences university students' health behaviors and cognition,and the purpose is to effectively use social media to process heath education and promotion among university students.ObjectiveBy examining the university students' attention to health related information on social media and their health behaviors and cognition in Henan University to explore the relationships between the attention of health information on social media and university students' health behaviors and cognition.MethodsResearch Method: The method of sampling survey was used in this research to collect data.This research mainly examines the relationships between health related information on social media and university students' health behaviors and cognition to get an insight about how those health information on social media guides students by using the data collected at 2015 in China.The response rate of this research is 97%,and the sample size is of 294 university students.Analysis Method: After collecting all the data,this research utilized Stata14.0 to process and analyze the data.This research mainly used statistic methodologies like frequency analysis,t-test,One-Way ANOVA test,Correction Analysis and MultiLinear Regression Analysis.Results1.Attention to health related information on social media: Many University students pay attention to health related information on social media,80.61% university students pay attention to health related information at different level;55% respondents had ever reship health related information on their social media;81.29% respondents will search online for more information if they are not sure of some health related issues.2.Respondents health behaviors: through the investigation,this research found that sleeping time(3.30±1.18)?sleeping quality(3.55±1.08)?emotion(3.25±1.02)?eating healthy(3.18±0.96)and exercise(3.04±1.26)got the lower scores among 15 kinds of health behaviors.Gender and health status significantly influence respondents health behaviors.Female got higher scores than males for many kinds of health behaviors;Respondents who felt under sub-healthy condition(2.62±0.57)or had chronic diseases scored higher than respondents who felt very healthy and had experienced big diseases.Other demographic characteristics of respondents do not have significantly influence on their health behavior.3.Respondents health cognition: there are about 150 respondents(51.02%)who received the highest score(6),which is the largest proportion;Gender does statistically influence respondents' health cognition,the mean score of male(4.65±0.13)is lower than female(5.09±0.09);Other demographic characteristics of respondents do not have significantly influence on their health behavior.4.The relationships between health related information on social media and health behaviors: t test shows that male respondents pay as much attention to health related information on social media as female respondents;Respondents' attention on health related information are statistically significant for some respondents' health behaviors,like eating habits(P>0.05);Respondents' attention on health related information are not statistically significant for some respondents' health behaviors,like smoking(P<0.05).5.Relationship between health related information on social media and respondents' health cognition:Respondents' attention on health related information is not statistically significant for respondents' health cognition(P>0.05).6.Relationship between health behavior and health cognition: Respondents health behavior is statistically significant with health cognition(P<0.05).Conclusion1.There are still a large proportion of respondents(27.21%)who felt they are under sub-healthy status,so it is necessary to process health promotion and health education among university students.2.Health related information on social media is statistically significant for some health behaviors,so it is helpful to utilize social media to process health education and health promotion on compus.3.Health related information on social media is not stastically significant with respondents' health cognition,but it is statistically significant with health behaviors,so health education and health promotion is necessary for university students.