How Framed Messages Influence Depression Assessment Intentions: Interactivity of Social Media as a Moderator

This study examines how the framing and interactivity of messages influence the intentions of individuals to take a depression assessment. An experiment with a 2 (message framing: gain-versus loss-) × 2 (interactivity: low versus high) between-subject design was conducted among 269 Chinese participants (M = 30.70, SD = 7.34). The results showed that those reading loss-framed messages had a higher intention to take a depression assessment compared to those reading gain-framed messages. Secondly, those reading messages delivered with high interactivity had a higher intention to take a depression assessment than those reading messages delivered with low interactivity. Further, the interaction effect of framed messages and their varying degrees of interactivity was found to influence the intentions of individuals to take a depression assessment as well. Specifically, participants who read the loss-framed message reported stronger intention in the high interactivity group. In contrast, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of loss-framed and gain-framed messages in promoting the intention to take a depression assessment in the low interactivity condition.