Understanding the associations between eHealth activities and support for alcohol restrictions among drinkers—the roles of alcohol-related health risk awareness and self-efficacy

Objective Excessive alcohol consumption is a significant health concern in the United States. Alcohol restriction policies can help control the harms caused by alcohol use. eHealth activities have been proposed to bolster public support for such policies. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unexplored. This study aims to investigate the association between eHealth activities and support for alcohol restriction policies by influencing the specific awareness of certain diseases (cancer and heart disease), and how this relationship can be moderated by self-efficacy, among three groups of drinkers (i.e., light, moderate, and heavy drinkers). Method This study employed a secondary analysis of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) in 2020, with a sample size of 1388. A moderated mediation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships among focal variables. Result This study reported a positive indirect relationship between eHealth activities and support for alcohol restriction policies mediated by drinkers’ perception that alcohol consumption causes cancer. Moreover, a positive moderating effect of self-efficacy was found in the relationship between eHealth activities and belief that alcohol causes cancer. However, for beliefs about alcohol causes heart disease, neither the indirect effect nor the moderating effect of self-efficacy was significant. In subgroup analysis, the indirect pathway from eHealth activities to support for alcohol restriction policies, via increased belief that alcohol causes cancer, was significant among light and moderate drinkers. Self-efficacy moderated the link between eHealth activities and beliefs about alcohol-related cancer and heart disease in moderate drinkers. Conclusion This study indicates the role of eHealth activities to promote alcohol restriction policies by raising drinkers’ belief that alcohol causes cancer. Moreover, self-efficacy is crucial since it can strengthen the impact of eHealth activities on the belief that alcohol causes cancer. Finally, it is essential to correct the misconception about alcohol's benefits for heart disease.