Bo Yang

Dr. Yang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication. Her research lies at the intersection of health communication, persuasion, and social influence. From a social scientific perspective, she examines how message features, audience traits, and emotional processes shape persuasion in health contexts. She also investigates how social norms form and influence health behaviors, how people use media around health topics, and how exposure to different types of messages shapes risk perceptions and behavioral outcomes.

A core focus of Dr. Yang’s work is communication about tobacco, including both traditional combusted products and novel products that may present reduced risks compared to conventional cigarettes. Her studies have tested messages comparing the risks of e-cigarettes with combusted cigarettes, examined public understanding of nicotine, evaluated warning label interventions, and explored how emotions, message framing, and identity influence decision-making in tobacco use. Much of this work has been supported by NIH and FDA. Beyond tobacco, Dr. Yang’s research addressed pressing communication challenges during infectious disease outbreaks and explored communication strategies to advance minority health equity.

Dr. Yang has collaborated widely across disciplinary areas and published in leading health communication and public health journals, including Health Communication, Journal of Health Communication, American Journal of Public Health, Tobacco Control, and Health Education and Behavior. Dr. Yang earned her PhD in Communication from the University of Maryland and her MA in Strategic Public Relations from the University of Southern California. Before joining the University of Arizona, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the NIH- and FDA-funded Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University

Dr. Yang will be accepting graduate students for Fall 2026.

Selected Publications

Yang, B., Li, Y., Choi, Y., & Gahler, H. (2025). Sexual stigma, descriptive norms, and U.S. gay and bisexual men’s intentions to perform mpox preventive behaviors. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2448528

Yang, B., Li, Y., Yan, K., Choi, Y., & Bennett-Jones, B. (2023). Analyzing U.S. state governments’ COVID-19 homepages during the initial lockdown in March and April 2020: Information content and interactivity. Health Communication, 38(7), 1327-1337. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2021.2007574

Yang, B., Owusu, D., & Popova, L. (2019). Testing messages about comparative risk of electronic cigarettes and combusted cigarettes. Tobacco Control, 28, 440-448. https://doi.org/10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054404

Yang, B., & Nan, X. (2019). The influence of norm-based appeals on college binge drinking intentions: Considering norm type, regulatory mode, and level of alcohol consumption. Health Communication, 34(14), 1711-1720. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2018.1517708

Yang, B., Liu, J., & Popova, L. (2019). Feeling hopeful motivates change: Emotional responses to messages communicating comparative risk of electronic cigarettes and combusted cigarettes. Health Education & Behavior, 46(3), 471-483. doi:10.1177/1090198118825236

Yang. B., & Zhao, X. (2018). TV, social media, and college students’ binge drinking intentions: Moderated mediation models. Journal of Health Communication, 23(1), 61-71. doi:10.1080/10810730.2017.1411995