From initial acceptance to reflective adjustment: psychological adjustment patterns among Taiwanese adolescents encountering misinformation.

This qualitative study explores adolescents' psychological adjustment when encountering online misinformation. Based on in-depth interviews with Taiwanese secondary school students, it examines how participants moved from initial acceptance of inaccurate information toward questioning, verification, recognition, and later adjustment. The analysis identified five interrelated patterns: initial acceptance and confusion, emerging doubt, verification, recognition and reflective reassessment, and subsequent adjustment. Although these patterns often appeared in a broadly temporal relationship, they did not constitute a fixed or universal sequence. Shaped by cognitive, emotional, and social-environmental factors, the patterns reflected adolescents' developing self-efficacy and self-regulation. Findings suggest that self-efficacy beliefs, emotion regulation, and social and environmental feedback shaped participants' movement among these patterns. Integrating Social Cognitive Theory with empirical evidence, the study advances a theory-informed account of media literacy development. Implications are discussed for educational interventions to enhance youth resilience to digital misinformation, including strengthening critical thinking and fact-checking skills and emphasizing the need for supportive environments. Study limitations and future research directions are also addressed.