Research on the Influencing Factors of New Media Health Rumor Recognition Ability

In recent years, with the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence and rapid spread of new media health rumors have been further exacerbated. Health rumors have become the most widely spread and influential type of rumors on the Internet. It is of great significance to further explore and improve the public's ability to identify new media health rumors for the construction of a comprehensive rumor management system. Based on previous studies, current research constructed a comprehensive factor model for health rumor recognition ability, which mainly includes four aspects: demographic factors, individual physiological factors, individual psychological factors, and social environmental factors. The results showed that males have a higher ability to identify health rumors on new media than females. Young groups have higher abilities to identify health rumors on new media than middle-aged and elderly groups. Other factors such as physiological factors, psychological factors, and social environmental factors have no significant impact on the ability to identify health rumors on new media.