Promoting support for tobacco control: The roles of online and offline health information seeking

Objective Understanding the factors that shape public support for tobacco control policies is essential for effective legislation. This study aims to examine how online and offline health information seeking behaviors (HISB) among chronic disease patients influence their support for tobacco control policies. Methods Using data from a national survey in China (N = 745), this study developed and empirically tested a parallel mediation model examining the direct associations between online and offline HISB and support for tobacco control policies, as well as the indirect paths through perceived social disapprove of smoking and negative smoking outcome expectancies. Results Results indicated that online HISB was positively associated with support for tobacco control policies, both directly and indirectly through increased perceived social disapproval of smoking and negative smoking outcome expectancies. In contrast, offline HISB showed no direct association with policy support and exhibited an indirect negative pathway through reduced negative smoking outcome expectancies. Conclusions Findings highlight the positive role of online HISB, and the potential negative role of offline HISB, in shaping support for tobacco control policies. We therefore recommend promoting online channels for health information seeking, especially among adults aged 40 to 70 and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, who rely more on offline media and face higher chronic disease risk. Online campaigns should emphasize the social unacceptability of smoking and negative smoking outcome expectancies. In parallel, stricter regulation of pro-tobacco content in offline media, especially subtle promotional exposure, is needed, along with increased frequency and depth of antitobacco coverage in traditional media.