Factors Influencing College Students’ Mental Health Promotion: The Mediating Effect of Online Mental Health Information Seeking

• Main Authors: Wenen Chen, Qian Zheng, Changyong Liang, Yuguang Xie, Dongxiao Gu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: college students’ mental health; information network society; online health information searching; the external quality of Internet platforms; electronic health literacy
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/13/4783

For college students, mental health is an important factor in ensuring their ability to study and have a normal life. This research focuses on factors affecting the mental health of college students in the information network society. We constructed a theoretical model that influences their online mental health information seeking behavior from internal and external perspectives, and by extension, affects their mental health. Through the data obtained by field research and questionnaire survey on the online mental health information seeking behavior of some college students in Internet health information platforms, a structural equation model is used to test the hypotheses. Results show that the quality of external Internet platforms and the quality of internal electronic health literacy have a significantly positive impact on the online health information searching behavior of college students; electronic health literacy and online mental health information seeking behavior have significantly direct positive effects on college students’ mental health. Further, online health information searching behavior has a significant mediating effect between Internet platform quality, electronic health literacy, and college students’ mental health. The research conclusions have theoretical value and practical significance to study the factors influencing college students’ mental health in the context of information network society.