Health Literacy and Media Literacy as Predictors of Environmental Concern: The Mediating Role of a Health-Promoting Lifestyle

Abstract

Objective: In today’s information-rich environment, individuals’ abilities to understand health-related information (health literacy) and critically evaluate media content are essential for promoting healthy behaviors and environmental awareness. This study investigated the combined effects of health literacy and media literacy on employees’ health-promoting lifestyle and environmental concern, highlighting the mediating role of a health-promoting lifestyle.

Methods: A descriptive–correlational design was used with all employees of the Sport and Youth Offices of South Khorasan Province (census sampling; 176 valid questionnaires). Data were collected via standardized questionnaires, validated by experts, and analyzed using SPSS (descriptive statistics) and PLS (structural model testing).

Findings: The findings revealed that health literacy (β = 0.596, t = 7.756, p < 0.001) and media literacy (β = 0.200, t = 2.539, p < 0.05) had positive and significant effects on employees’ health-promoting lifestyle. Moreover, both health literacy (β = 0.200, t = 2.160, p < 0.05) and media literacy (β = 0.235, t = 2.829, p < 0.01) directly and positively influenced employees’ environmental concern. In addition, a health-promoting lifestyle (β = 0.433, t = 5.020, p < 0.001) played a significant mediating role in the relationship between health literacy and environmental concern, as well as between media literacy and environmental concern. The model explained 56.7% of the variance in health-promoting lifestyle (R² = 0.567) and 60.6% of the variance in environmental concern (R² = 0.606).

Conclusion: These results underscore the critical mediating role of a health-promoting lifestyle in linking literacy skills to environmental awareness. Interventions targeting both health and media literacy could effectively promote sustainable behaviors and ecological consciousness.