Education differences in cancer fatalism: The role of information-seeking experiences. (October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Emanuel, Amber S; Godinho, Cristina A; Steinman, Christopher; Updegraff, John A
• Is Part Of: Journal of health psychology. Volume 23:Number 12(2018)
• Page Start: 1533
• Page End: 1544
• Publication Date: 2018-10
• Subjects: cancer -- cancer fatalism -- education -- fatalism -- health information seeking; Clinical health psychology -- Periodicals; 613.019
• DOI: 10.1177/1359105316664129
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-1053

Abstract

Cancer fatalism is the belief that cancer is uncontrollable and lethal. Individuals with less education are more likely to hold fatalistic beliefs about cancer, but the mechanism accounting for the relationship is unknown. We tested whether negative health information seeking experiences explain this relationship. Structural equation modeling was used to test this relationship across three datasets from the Health Information National Trends Survey. Across all datasets, the model showed good fit: Cycle 1 (coefficient of determination = .11, comparative fit index = .96, root mean square error of approximation = .047), Cycle 2 (coefficient of determination = .06, comparative fit index = .96, root mean square error of approximation = .046), and Cycle 3 (coefficient of determination = .08, comparative fit index = .95, root mean square error of approximation = .052). The link between lower education level and higher cancer fatalism was partially mediated by negative health information seeking experiences.