Health messages are central to the field of public health in influencing behavioral change, and previous research does not offer a univocal answer on the most effective ordering of health outcomes and (un)healthy behaviors within health communication. An archival study revealed that online mass-media communicators tend to mention behaviors first. This strategy was questioned in two experimental studies (Ntot=158) examining the impact of word order on behavioral intention. Specifically, by manipulating the mentioning order of health outcomes (i.e., effect-first vs. effect-later) within a health message, results revealed a subtle role of word-order. English and Italian middle-aged men were more willing to change unhealthy habits after being exposed to a health-related message following the effect-first order rather than the effect-later order. Besides extending the comprehension of the role of word-order in socio-cognitive processes, our findings provide health communicators feedback about subtle linguistic strategies while dealing with health messages construction.
Keywords: Communication; Health behavior; Word-order.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.