Eighth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

In the recent years, TikTok become increasingly popular among young people in China and there is growing number of people who start to pay great attention to their health. However, TikTok dependency and health information seeking behavior on TikTok among university students in Wuhan of China in the post COVID-19 era remains unknown. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the direct influence of TikTok dependency and health information seeking behavior on TikTok as well as the mediating roles of TikTok trust, eHealth literacy COVID-19 risk perception. The study drew on Media Dependency Theory to understand the influence of TikTok as a social media platform on university students’ health-related behaviors. By cluster sampling, 426 questionnaires were collected from a sample of university students in Wuhan. Structural Equation Modeling was conducted to examine the relationships among the variables. The findings found the positive relationship between TikTok dependency, health information seeking behavior on TikTok. Besides, TikTok trust and eHealth literacy were found to partially mediate the relationship between TikTok dependency and health information seeking behavior separately. The results highlight the role of TikTok as a platform for health information seeking among university students in Wuhan. The findings suggest that TikTok trust and eHealth literacy play significant roles in shaping students’ TikTok dependency and health information seeking behavior. To conclude, these findings contribute to the understanding of how social media, specifically TikTok, influences health-related behaviors. The study provides theoretical insights by demonstrating the mediating role of TikTok trust and eHealth literacy.