My major research focuses on the interactive effects of media exposure and the audience’s social contexts on the audience’s knowledge acquisition, attitude formation, and behavior change primarily in the domain of public health. To be more specific, I explored how media use for health information and interpersonal health communication interact in the context of healthy lifestyle behaviors. Building on this research, I am currently examining the interactive effect of media exposure and social capital at both individual and community levels on interpersonal health communication and healthy lifestyle behaviors.

In my second line of research, I explore what roles the Internet plays – as a new health information provider – in the context of other sources of health information within the evolving U.S. health care system. For example, I examined what effects health consumers’ use of a new health information source (i.e., the Internet) has on their reliance on a traditional health information channel (i.e., health professionals). In a follow-up study, I examined the conditions under which this effect works by examining whether trust in a physician moderates the associations between Internet use and the frequency of physician visits. Most recently, I investigated whether health-knowledge gaps occur on the Internet, using an elaborated version of the concept of Internet engagement, which represents individuals’ connection to the Internet.