Horoszko Urszula A, Smith Lindsay, Murphy Amy, Taylor Bruce G, Lamuda Phoebe A, Pollack Harold A, Schneider John A, Taxman Faye S, Zhao Xiaoquan
Department of Communication, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
Schar School of Public Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Jul 2;25(1):2236. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-23470-0.
Misinformation has emerged as a major concern for public health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our study conceptualizes trust in doctors and social support through the lens of social capital theory and investigates their role in public endorsement of COVID-19-related misinformation.
Using data from a nationally representative survey (N = 6,515), a series of logistic regression models were used to estimate relationships between misinformation endorsement and trust in doctors and social support from interpersonal and communal sources. Moderation analyses explored differences in these relationships among non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic respondents.
In the full sample analysis, trust in doctors and social support from both sources were negatively associated with misinformation endorsement. This pattern did not consistently hold across the three subgroups in moderation analyses. Trust in doctors was negatively associated with misinformation endorsement in most cases, whereas social support exhibited varied associations depending on its source and respondents' race and ethnicity.
These findings confirm that trust in doctors is an important protective factor against COVID-19 misinformation. The role of social support, however, is more nuanced and warrants continued research that considers both support sources and the racial and ethnic background of the communities involved.
在新冠疫情期间，错误信息已成为公共卫生领域的一个主要担忧。我们的研究从社会资本理论的角度对医患信任和社会支持进行了概念化，并调查了它们在公众认可新冠相关错误信息方面所起的作用。
利用一项全国代表性调查（N = 6515）的数据，我们使用了一系列逻辑回归模型来估计错误信息认可与医患信任以及来自人际和社区来源的社会支持之间的关系。调节分析探讨了非西班牙裔白人、非西班牙裔黑人和西班牙裔受访者在这些关系上的差异。
在全样本分析中，医患信任和来自这两个来源的社会支持均与错误信息认可呈负相关。在调节分析中，这种模式在三个亚组中并不一致。在大多数情况下，医患信任与错误信息认可呈负相关，而社会支持的关联则因支持来源以及受访者的种族和民族而异。
这些发现证实，医患信任是防范新冠错误信息的一个重要保护因素。然而，社会支持的作用更为微妙，需要持续开展研究，同时考虑支持来源以及相关社区的种族和民族背景。
