AUTHOR=Shan Yi , Ji Meng 

TITLE=Factors associated with COVID-19 misinformation rebuttal among college students: a descriptive study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1233414

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1233414

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: The deluge of COVID-19 misinformation makes people confused, and acting on such misinformation can kill, leading to the tragic outcome of death. This makes it necessary to identify significant factors associated with college students’ susceptibility.
Objective: This descriptive study sought to ascertain factors significantly associated with college students’ susceptibility to online COVID-19 misinformation.
Methods: To assess college students’ susceptibility to COVID-19 misinformation, we first chose as independent variables some demographic information, some well-developed, validated literacy tools, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 Items. Second, we selected as the dependent variable COVID-19 myths from some authoritative, official websites. Third, we integrated the independent and dependent variables into an online questionnaire. Fourth, we recruited students from Nantong University in China to participate in an online questionnaire survey. Finally, based on the data collected, we conducted quantitative and qualitative analyses to relate the independent variables to the dependent variable. 
Results: 546 students participated in the survey voluntarily, and all questionnaires they answered were valid.  Through data analysis via Logistic Regression (forward stepwise), we found that (1) at an average threshold of 0.5, Internet use frequency, functional health literacy, general health numeracy, reflective thinking tendency, and depression severity were significant predictors of susceptibility to misinformation for both male and female students, (2) at a higher threshold of 0.8, aggregated general health numeracy scores and functional health literacy scores, as well as depression severity were predictors of susceptibility to misinformation for both male and female students, (3) functional health literacy, general health literacy, and depression predicted resistance to misinformation for female students, and (4) internet use frequency and self-reported digital health literacy predicted resistance to misinformation for male students. 
Conclusions: We revealed the complexity, dynamics, and differences in age, gender, education, Internet exposure, communicative health literacy, and cognitive skills concerning college students’ susceptibility to online COVID-19 misinformation. Hopefully, this study can provide valuable implications for counteracting COVID-19 misinformation among Chinese college students.