Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Digital Public Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1445778

What Drives Chinese Youth to Use Fitness-related Health Information on Social Media? An Analysis of Intrinsic Needs, Social Media Algorithms, and Source Credibility

Provisionally accepted
ZHANG XIN ZHANG XIN TANG QING QING TANG QING QING *CAI YING YING CAI YING YING
  • Putra Malaysia University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The role of social media in providing fitness-related health information has been discussed on numerous occasions, yet there is a paucity of research on the use of fitness-related health information behaviors among youth in the context of social media. Consequently, this research integrated Self-Determination Theory (SDT)-based Internal Factors and External Factors (Social Media Algorithms, and Source Credibility) to address this gap. The research employed a voluntary sample with ages ranging from 15 to 29 (N=600) and used Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) for data analysis. The findings indicated that all three intrinsic needs (competence, autonomy, and relatedness), social media algorithms, and source credibility were positively associated with fitness-related health information use behaviors among youth. Furthermore, social media algorithms moderated the relationship between the need for relatedness and fitness-related health information behavior. The findings of this research offer fresh insights into the development of health communication strategies on social media, with a particular focus on the youth demographic.

    Keywords: Youth, Social Media, Fitness-related health information, Intrinsic needs, Social media algorithms, Source credibility

    Received: 21 Jul 2024; Accepted: 01 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 XIN, QING and YING. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: TANG QING QING, Putra Malaysia University, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.