For Myself or for Others? The Influence of Family Communication Patterns on Family Health History Communication and Online Health Information Seeking

With innovations in health information technology, there are increasing opportunities to search for health information online, with the potential to reduce health care costs and improve health outcomes for the family. This study aims to investigate how family communication processes influence online health information seeking for oneself (self OHIS) and for another person (surrogate OHIS). An online survey was conducted among 325 adults in China. The results showed that family conversation orientation was positively related to family health history (FHH) communication intentions, whereas family conformity orientation was negatively related to FHH communication intentions. Family conversation orientation was positively related to self and surrogate OHIS through the partial and masking mediation effects of FHH communication intentions, respectively. Family conformity orientation was negatively related to self OHIS through the full mediating effect of FHH communication intentions, while FHH communication intentions played a masking mediating role between conformity orientation and surrogate OHIS. Implications for extending family communication patterns research to health communication and cultural forces on OHIS are discussed.