Yachao Li
Biographic Data
| ID | 3827257 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Yachao Li |
| GIVEN NAMES | Yachao |
| FAMILY NAME | Li |
| SIGNATURE | LI Y |
| AFFILIATIONS | College of New Jersey |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8268-1935 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 24 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2019 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Sexual Stigma, Descriptive Norms, and U.S. Gay and Bisexual Men’s Intentions to Perform Mpox Preventive Behaviors
Based on the theory of normative social behavior, this research investigated the moderating role of three forms of sexual stigma - enacted, felt, and internalized - in the relationship between perceived descriptive norms and intentions of gay and bisexual men to engage in three preventive behaviors during the 2022 mpox outbreak in the U.S. Through an online survey conducted among 439 gay and bisexual men in September 2022, we observed that partic…
Finally, some hope. Communicating systemic aspects of climate‐change mitigation
Climate communication, including from museums, often advocates individual lifestyle changes, and while these are necessary, the biggest emissions reductions will come from the systemic transition to renewable energy sources. The importance of this systemic change and its attainability has been under‐communicated in the public discourse, although bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have increased their focus on it. We tested …
Cumulative handgrip strength and trajectories of depressive symptoms in older adults
Reduced cumulative handgrip strength correlated with accelerated depressive symptom progression and increased depression incidence. Future interventional studies should further investigate if strength/muscular fitness can improve mental health, particularly in older adults
Pathways from Sexual Stigma to Mpox Preventive Intentions
OnlyFans use and satisfactions with oneself and others
OnlyFans is a patronage platform primarily for sexually explicit content. Unlike professionally produced pornography, OnlyFans allows users to actively select their subscriptions and engage directly with creators. However, little is known about how the use of OnlyFans relates to various satisfaction with oneself and others. This study ( n = 293) explores the association of OnlyFans usage—including viewing and interaction—with different types of s…
Covid-19 Vaccines #ForYou
216 collected in March 2021) during the early days of the vaccine rollout in the U.S., including video source, overall stance toward COVID-19 vaccines, Health Belief Model (HBM)-related content, message features (i.e. humor, video type, message sensation value, on-screen text, and unoriginal sound), and user engagement indices (number of views, shares, comments, and likes). Regarding source, health professionals and general users were two of the …
Exploring the effects of cannabis health warnings on protective health intentions among US adults in legal recreational states
Perceived Message Effectiveness
How people make perceived message effectiveness (PME) judgments remains mostly unexplored. This study assessed whether people need to spontaneously think about message effectiveness to report the message as effective on rating scales and investigated emotions as precursors to PME. After viewing one of four e-cigarette prevention messages, 1,968 adult current and former smokers and nonsmokers freely expressed thoughts about the messages in an open…
Gaslighting LGBTQ+ Individuals
LGBTQ+ individuals have been victims of gaslighting, a form of psychological manipulation and emotional abuse that causes minority people to question their sense of self, doubt the validity of their identities, and internalize heteronormativity. This study explores personal and relational correlates of LGBTQ+ people’s gaslighting experiences, examines demographic and relational characteristics of gaslighters, and identifies common gaslighting tec…
Analyzing U.S. State Governments’ Covid-19 Homepages during the Initial Lockdown in March and April 2020
During times of a pandemic, government emergency response webpages are an important communication channel and if properly managed, will mitigate pandemic impacts. Guided by the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework and web interactivity literature, this study examined the information content and interactivity of U.S. state governments' COVID-19 homepages when many states declared stay-at-home orders in March or April of 2020. U…
Covid-19 Message Fatigue
This study examines the impact of message fatigue and what makes people fatigued in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collected with a Qualtrics panel (N = 744) showed that both active (i.e., reactance) and passive (i.e., inattention) resistance in message processing mediated the relationships between message fatigue and intentions to follow three types of preventive behaviors against COVID-19 (i.e., wearing masks, social distancing, and…
When Cigarette Smoking Meets Covid-19
Growing evidence indicates that communicating the combined risk of smoking and COVID-19 encourages smoking cessation. Guided by the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), we examined how perceived threats of smoking and COVID-19 independently and interactively predicted danger control responses (i.e., quit intentions and COVID-19-protective behavioral intentions) and fear control responses (i.e., fear and fatalism). We also explored the direct a…
A Content Analysis of U.S. Adults’ Open-Ended Responses to E-Cigarette Risk Messages
To better understand the processing of e-cigarette prevention messages, we conducted a content analysis of 1,968 participants’ open-ended responses to one of four messages, which focused on industry manipulation (Big tobacco), financial and psychological cost of vaping (Can’t afford), harmful chemicals in e-cigarettes (Formaldehyde), or uncertainty about the ingredients of e-liquids (Top secret). Health Belief Model (HBM) and perceived message ef…
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on sexual orientation disclosure and post-disclosure depression among U.S. LGBQ individuals
Guided by the Theory of Coming Out Message Production and the Constitutive Model of Coming Out, this study explores how negative COVID-19 experiences (adverse impacts of the pandemic) moderate the effects of cognitive factors (disclosure goals, relational power, and internalized homophobia) on sexual orientation disclosure, and the effects of disclosure on mental health. Results (N = 403 U.S. LGBQ adults) showed that as adverse impacts of the pan…
The impact of Covid-19-related anti-Asian discrimination on sexual communication and relationships among Asian individuals in the United States
Asian individuals in the United States have experienced heightened racial discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may reduce positive relationship processes and damage intimate relationships, including their sexual behaviors and quality. Guided by the chilling effect and Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction, this study explores how COVID-19-related anti-Asian discrimination moderates the relationships between sexual rela…
Communicating Covid-19 information on TikTok
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, TikTok, an emerging social media platform, has created an information hub to provide users with engaging and authoritative COVID-19 information. This study investigates the video format, type and content of the COVID-19 TikTok videos, and how those video attributes are related to quantitative indicators of user engagement, including numbers of views, likes, comments and shares. A content analysis examined 331 videos fr…
Predictors and outcomes of LGB individuals’ sexual orientation disclosure to heterosexual romantic partners
LGB individuals coming out to heterosexual partners can be difficult in mixed-orientation relationships. This study examined the predictors and outcomes of LGB people’s sexual orientation disclosure and perceived partner reactions. Participants (N = 417) were LGB adults residing in the US who came out to their heterosexual romantic partners. Path analysis results showed that LGB individuals’ disclosure goals, internalized homophobia, and perceive…
LGB Tobacco Control
This research includes two studies testing whether the Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs predict tobacco use intentions differently between heterosexual and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. Focusing on cigarette smoking, Study 1 ( n = 1808 U.S. adult current smokers) found that the perceived health threat and perceived benefits of smoking differently predicted intentions to continue smoking between heterosexual and LGB smokers. The per…
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on same-sex couples' conflict avoidance, relational quality, and mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the management and trajectory of same-sex relationships. This study considered the mediational role of same-sex partners' conflict avoidance and the moderating roles of individual and contextual vulnerability factors in the face of the pandemic. Results showed that greater adverse daily life impacts and higher perceived threat of COVID-19 predicted more complaint avoidance, which in turn predicted lowe…
Queering communication studies
Genders and sexualities continue to remain underexplored in the field of communication studies and the academy in general. This essay examines possibilities for incorporating queer perspectives into communication studies. At the invitation of the Journal of Applied Communication Research editor, 9 communication scholars who use queer theory or queer perspectives in their own work responded to a series of questions addressing how queer theory and …
Users’ Modifications to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)
Users' modifications to electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products could increase initiation, inhibit cessation, or change the toxicity of the product. This study aims to begin to identify consumers' common ENDS modification behaviors. We conducted audio-recorded, in-depth one-on-one interviews with 13 adult ENDS users in the metropolitan Atlanta area, who self-reported extensive modification experience. Modifications to coils, batterie…
Constructing and Communicating Covid-19 Stigma on Twitter
This study focuses on stigma communication about COVID-19 on Twitter in the early stage of the outbreak, given the lack of information and rapid global expansion of new cases during this period. Guided by the model of stigma communication, we examine four types of message content, namely mark, group labeling, responsibility, and peril, that are instrumental in forming stigma beliefs and sharing stigma messages. We also explore whether the presenc…
Higher negative emotions in response to cigarette pictorial warning labels predict higher quit intentions among smokers
The results provide additional evidence for negative emotions as the mechanism through which PWLs motivate smokers to consider quitting. The findings call on the Food and Drug Administration to design and implement high-emotion-arousing cigarette warning labels
Communication Efficacy as a Mechanism for the Chilling Effect on Complaint Avoidance A Cross-cultural Comparison of American and Chinese Romantic Relationships
Complaint avoidance is a common response to relational conflict; yet, it can cause adverse personal and relational consequences. This study examined cultural (i.e., U.S. versus China) and relational (i.e., relational power, communication efficacy) factors predicting complaint avoidance. Hypothesizing that Americans engage in less complaint avoidance than Chinese (H1), relational power negatively predicts complaint avoidance via communication effi…
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on same-sex couples' conflict avoidance, relational quality, and mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the management and trajectory of same-sex relationships. This study considered the mediational role of same-sex partners' conflict avoidance and the moderating roles of individual and contextual vulnerability factors in the face of the pandemic. Results showed that greater adverse daily life impacts and higher perceived threat of COVID-19 predicted more complaint avoidance, which in turn predicted lowe…
The impact of Covid-19-related anti-Asian discrimination on sexual communication and relationships among Asian individuals in the United States
Asian individuals in the United States have experienced heightened racial discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may reduce positive relationship processes and damage intimate relationships, including their sexual behaviors and quality. Guided by the chilling effect and Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction, this study explores how COVID-19-related anti-Asian discrimination moderates the relationships between sexual rela…
Communication Efficacy as a Mechanism for the Chilling Effect on Complaint Avoidance A Cross-cultural Comparison of American and Chinese Romantic Relationships
Complaint avoidance is a common response to relational conflict; yet, it can cause adverse personal and relational consequences. This study examined cultural (i.e., U.S. versus China) and relational (i.e., relational power, communication efficacy) factors predicting complaint avoidance. Hypothesizing that Americans engage in less complaint avoidance than Chinese (H1), relational power negatively predicts complaint avoidance via communication effi…
Higher negative emotions in response to cigarette pictorial warning labels predict higher quit intentions among smokers
The results provide additional evidence for negative emotions as the mechanism through which PWLs motivate smokers to consider quitting. The findings call on the Food and Drug Administration to design and implement high-emotion-arousing cigarette warning labels
Communication Efficacy as a Mechanism for the Chilling Effect on Complaint Avoidance A Cross-cultural Comparison of American and Chinese Romantic Relationships
Complaint avoidance is a common response to relational conflict; yet, it can cause adverse personal and relational consequences. This study examined cultural (i.e., U.S. versus China) and relational (i.e., relational power, communication efficacy) factors predicting complaint avoidance. Hypothesizing that Americans engage in less complaint avoidance than Chinese (H1), relational power negatively predicts complaint avoidance via communication effi…
Queering communication studies
Genders and sexualities continue to remain underexplored in the field of communication studies and the academy in general. This essay examines possibilities for incorporating queer perspectives into communication studies. At the invitation of the Journal of Applied Communication Research editor, 9 communication scholars who use queer theory or queer perspectives in their own work responded to a series of questions addressing how queer theory and …
Users’ Modifications to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS)
Users' modifications to electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products could increase initiation, inhibit cessation, or change the toxicity of the product. This study aims to begin to identify consumers' common ENDS modification behaviors. We conducted audio-recorded, in-depth one-on-one interviews with 13 adult ENDS users in the metropolitan Atlanta area, who self-reported extensive modification experience. Modifications to coils, batterie…
Constructing and Communicating Covid-19 Stigma on Twitter
This study focuses on stigma communication about COVID-19 on Twitter in the early stage of the outbreak, given the lack of information and rapid global expansion of new cases during this period. Guided by the model of stigma communication, we examine four types of message content, namely mark, group labeling, responsibility, and peril, that are instrumental in forming stigma beliefs and sharing stigma messages. We also explore whether the presenc…
Communicating Covid-19 information on TikTok
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, TikTok, an emerging social media platform, has created an information hub to provide users with engaging and authoritative COVID-19 information. This study investigates the video format, type and content of the COVID-19 TikTok videos, and how those video attributes are related to quantitative indicators of user engagement, including numbers of views, likes, comments and shares. A content analysis examined 331 videos fr…
Predictors and outcomes of LGB individuals’ sexual orientation disclosure to heterosexual romantic partners
LGB individuals coming out to heterosexual partners can be difficult in mixed-orientation relationships. This study examined the predictors and outcomes of LGB people’s sexual orientation disclosure and perceived partner reactions. Participants (N = 417) were LGB adults residing in the US who came out to their heterosexual romantic partners. Path analysis results showed that LGB individuals’ disclosure goals, internalized homophobia, and perceive…
LGB Tobacco Control
This research includes two studies testing whether the Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs predict tobacco use intentions differently between heterosexual and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. Focusing on cigarette smoking, Study 1 ( n = 1808 U.S. adult current smokers) found that the perceived health threat and perceived benefits of smoking differently predicted intentions to continue smoking between heterosexual and LGB smokers. The per…
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on same-sex couples' conflict avoidance, relational quality, and mental health
The COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the management and trajectory of same-sex relationships. This study considered the mediational role of same-sex partners' conflict avoidance and the moderating roles of individual and contextual vulnerability factors in the face of the pandemic. Results showed that greater adverse daily life impacts and higher perceived threat of COVID-19 predicted more complaint avoidance, which in turn predicted lowe…
A Content Analysis of U.S. Adults’ Open-Ended Responses to E-Cigarette Risk Messages
To better understand the processing of e-cigarette prevention messages, we conducted a content analysis of 1,968 participants’ open-ended responses to one of four messages, which focused on industry manipulation (Big tobacco), financial and psychological cost of vaping (Can’t afford), harmful chemicals in e-cigarettes (Formaldehyde), or uncertainty about the ingredients of e-liquids (Top secret). Health Belief Model (HBM) and perceived message ef…
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on sexual orientation disclosure and post-disclosure depression among U.S. LGBQ individuals
Guided by the Theory of Coming Out Message Production and the Constitutive Model of Coming Out, this study explores how negative COVID-19 experiences (adverse impacts of the pandemic) moderate the effects of cognitive factors (disclosure goals, relational power, and internalized homophobia) on sexual orientation disclosure, and the effects of disclosure on mental health. Results (N = 403 U.S. LGBQ adults) showed that as adverse impacts of the pan…
The impact of Covid-19-related anti-Asian discrimination on sexual communication and relationships among Asian individuals in the United States
Asian individuals in the United States have experienced heightened racial discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may reduce positive relationship processes and damage intimate relationships, including their sexual behaviors and quality. Guided by the chilling effect and Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction, this study explores how COVID-19-related anti-Asian discrimination moderates the relationships between sexual rela…
Perceived Message Effectiveness
How people make perceived message effectiveness (PME) judgments remains mostly unexplored. This study assessed whether people need to spontaneously think about message effectiveness to report the message as effective on rating scales and investigated emotions as precursors to PME. After viewing one of four e-cigarette prevention messages, 1,968 adult current and former smokers and nonsmokers freely expressed thoughts about the messages in an open…
Gaslighting LGBTQ+ Individuals
LGBTQ+ individuals have been victims of gaslighting, a form of psychological manipulation and emotional abuse that causes minority people to question their sense of self, doubt the validity of their identities, and internalize heteronormativity. This study explores personal and relational correlates of LGBTQ+ people’s gaslighting experiences, examines demographic and relational characteristics of gaslighters, and identifies common gaslighting tec…
Analyzing U.S. State Governments’ Covid-19 Homepages during the Initial Lockdown in March and April 2020
During times of a pandemic, government emergency response webpages are an important communication channel and if properly managed, will mitigate pandemic impacts. Guided by the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework and web interactivity literature, this study examined the information content and interactivity of U.S. state governments' COVID-19 homepages when many states declared stay-at-home orders in March or April of 2020. U…
Covid-19 Message Fatigue
This study examines the impact of message fatigue and what makes people fatigued in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collected with a Qualtrics panel (N = 744) showed that both active (i.e., reactance) and passive (i.e., inattention) resistance in message processing mediated the relationships between message fatigue and intentions to follow three types of preventive behaviors against COVID-19 (i.e., wearing masks, social distancing, and…
When Cigarette Smoking Meets Covid-19
Growing evidence indicates that communicating the combined risk of smoking and COVID-19 encourages smoking cessation. Guided by the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM), we examined how perceived threats of smoking and COVID-19 independently and interactively predicted danger control responses (i.e., quit intentions and COVID-19-protective behavioral intentions) and fear control responses (i.e., fear and fatalism). We also explored the direct a…
Covid-19 Vaccines #ForYou
216 collected in March 2021) during the early days of the vaccine rollout in the U.S., including video source, overall stance toward COVID-19 vaccines, Health Belief Model (HBM)-related content, message features (i.e. humor, video type, message sensation value, on-screen text, and unoriginal sound), and user engagement indices (number of views, shares, comments, and likes). Regarding source, health professionals and general users were two of the …
Exploring the effects of cannabis health warnings on protective health intentions among US adults in legal recreational states
Sexual Stigma, Descriptive Norms, and U.S. Gay and Bisexual Men’s Intentions to Perform Mpox Preventive Behaviors
Based on the theory of normative social behavior, this research investigated the moderating role of three forms of sexual stigma - enacted, felt, and internalized - in the relationship between perceived descriptive norms and intentions of gay and bisexual men to engage in three preventive behaviors during the 2022 mpox outbreak in the U.S. Through an online survey conducted among 439 gay and bisexual men in September 2022, we observed that partic…
Finally, some hope. Communicating systemic aspects of climate‐change mitigation
Climate communication, including from museums, often advocates individual lifestyle changes, and while these are necessary, the biggest emissions reductions will come from the systemic transition to renewable energy sources. The importance of this systemic change and its attainability has been under‐communicated in the public discourse, although bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have increased their focus on it. We tested …
Cumulative handgrip strength and trajectories of depressive symptoms in older adults
Reduced cumulative handgrip strength correlated with accelerated depressive symptom progression and increased depression incidence. Future interventional studies should further investigate if strength/muscular fitness can improve mental health, particularly in older adults
Pathways from Sexual Stigma to Mpox Preventive Intentions
OnlyFans use and satisfactions with oneself and others
OnlyFans is a patronage platform primarily for sexually explicit content. Unlike professionally produced pornography, OnlyFans allows users to actively select their subscriptions and engage directly with creators. However, little is known about how the use of OnlyFans relates to various satisfaction with oneself and others. This study ( n = 293) explores the association of OnlyFans usage—including viewing and interaction—with different types of s…
Psychology (19 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Behavioral Health and Interventions (9 works) · Social Psychology (9 works) · Clinical Psychology (8 works) · Developmental psychology (7 works) · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy (6 works) · Pandemic (6 works) · Political science (6 works)