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On the Impact of Chronic Message Fatigue on Informational and Behavioral Outcomes
1Department of Communication Arts & Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University.
Health Communication
|May 7, 2026
Summary
Message fatigue, caused by overexposure to similar health messages, can negatively impact behavioral intentions. Seeking information may surprisingly reduce this fatigue, offering insights for health communication strategies.
Area of Science:
- Health Communication
- Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Message fatigue, a state of aversion from repeated exposure to similar messages, is poorly understood due to limited longitudinal research.
- Previous studies often used cross-sectional designs, hindering causal inferences about message exposure, fatigue, and persuasive outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the causal relationship between message exposure, message fatigue, and behavioral intentions using a longitudinal design.
- To explore the role of emotions and information-seeking behavior in the development of message fatigue within the context of health messaging (COVID-19 and influenza vaccines).
Main Methods:
- A two-wave online survey was administered to a nationwide sample of U.S. adults.
- Cross-lagged panel analyses were employed to examine the temporal dynamics between message exposure, fatigue, and behavioral intentions.
Main Results:
- Exposure to messages positively predicted fatigue within Wave 2, but Wave 1 exposure negatively predicted Wave 2 fatigue.
- Message fatigue was negatively associated with adaptive behavioral intentions in both waves.
- Information-seeking intent at Wave 1 was unexpectedly linked to lower message fatigue at Wave 2.
- Emotions like hope, anger, and fear were significantly correlated with message fatigue.
Conclusions:
- Longitudinal data reveal complex associations between message exposure and fatigue, suggesting that initial information seeking may mitigate later fatigue.
- Findings highlight the impact of message fatigue on health behavior intentions and the mediating role of emotions.
- Implications suggest that promoting information seeking could be a strategy to combat message fatigue in health communication campaigns.
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