Fanning the flames: the interplay between social norms and conservation values in misleading news sharing and evaluation among adolescents

This study investigates the role of injunctive and descriptive social norms and their interplay with conservation values on adolescents' evaluation and sharing of misleading news. The research, conducted with 353 Italian adolescents (mean age = 14.4, SD = 0.75), utilized a novel conversational web app to measure responses to fabricated misleading news. Results indicate that both descriptive and injunctive norms significantly predict the intention to share, with descriptive norms also influencing news evaluation. Conservation values moderate these effects: security enhances the link between descriptive norms and sharing intentions, while conformity strengthens the connection between descriptive and injunctive norms. These findings highlight the roles of social norms and conservation values and their interaction on misleading news evaluation and sharing in this age group, suggesting that research on misinformation should also consider the social context in which adolescents live and develop. By integrating social norms and value orientations, this study advances current research by highlighting how adolescents’ social context and motivational values jointly shape misleading news evaluation and sharing. Implications include designing interventions aimed at promoting social skills useful for recognizing and resisting social influence, raising awareness regarding social cues influence and interventions that promote social norms against misinformation.