Information seeking and subsequent affective well-being in Chinese young adults: the mediating effects of worry.

Objective: This study aimed to unravel micro-processes that link information seeking to subsequent affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect) at the within-person level, as well as the role of worry as a mediator in this relationship. Methods and measures: Within the initial weeks fol...

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Publicado en:Psychology & Health Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 149 - 165
Autores principales: Qiao, Lu, Xu, Shanshan, Zhang, Wenrui, Liu, Shijia, Lin, Xiuyun
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Feb2026
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Feb2026
      vid: 41
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      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
      place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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        10.1080/08870446.2024.2395867
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        atl: Information seeking and subsequent affective well-being in Chinese young adults: the mediating effects of worry.
      aug:
        au:
          Qiao, Lu
          Xu, Shanshan
          Zhang, Wenrui
          Liu, Shijia
          Lin, Xiuyun
        affil: Institute of Developmental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
      sug:
        subj:
          Information Seeking Behavior
          Affect
          Worry
          Psychological Well-Being In Adulthood
          Chinese Persons
          COVID-19 Etiology
          Students, College
          Funding Source
          Human
          Male
          Female
          Adult
          Convenience Sample
          Descriptive Statistics
          China
          Random Sample
          Structural Equation Modeling
          Mediation Analysis
          Adult: 19-44 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Objective: This study aimed to unravel micro-processes that link information seeking to subsequent affective well-being (i.e., positive and negative affect) at the within-person level, as well as the role of worry as a mediator in this relationship. Methods and measures: Within the initial weeks following the Chinese government's relaxation of its epidemic control measures, 184 participants completed experience sampling methods on information seeking, COVID-related worry, and affective well-being three times a day for 14 days. Results: According to dynamic structural equation models, information seeking was associated with high negative affect but not with low positive affect. COVID-related worry acted as a full mediator between information seeking at the previous time point (approximately 5 h ago) and the current negative affect, but not in positive affect. Conclusion: These findings suggested that the impact of information seeking on affective well-being was different for the two dimensions of affect. Furthermore, the persistent impact of information seeking on negative affect was attributed to the indirect effect of worry, suggesting that worry should be a point of focus for intervention to mitigate the potentially negative effects of information seeking within the context of the public health crises.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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