Title: Professor, Communication
Email: xzhao3@gmu.edu
Phone: 703-993-4008
Website: https://communication.gmu.edu/people/xzhao3
Groups: Faculty
Research Focus
My research focuses on health and risk message design and effects, evaluation of public communication campaigns, health and risk information seeking, information disparities affecting vulnerable populations, news effects on health and risk perceptions, and the role of the self in health behavior and persuasive communication. The substantive topics of my work include smoking, drug use, cancer, medical adherence, and climate change.
Select Publications
■ Zhao, X., & Peterson, E. B. (2017). Effects of temporal framing on response to antismoking messages: The mediating role of perceived relevance. Journal of Health Communication 22(1), 37–44.
■ Zhao, X., Rolfe-Redding, J., & Kotcher, J. (2016). Partisan differences in the relationship between newspaper coverage and concern over global warming. Public Understanding of Science 25, 543-559.
■ Zhao, X., et al. (2015). Cancer information seekers in China: A preliminary profile. Journal of Health Communication 20(5), 616–626.
■ Zhao, X., et al. (2014). Climate change education through TV weathercasts: Results of a field experiment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 95, 117-130.