Informational support, risk perception, anti-pandemic motivation and behavior: a longitudinal study in China

Effects of COVID-19 event intensity on college students' health lifestyles: time perspective mediating model and its gender difference

The pandemic of COVID-19 had not only led to healthy-damage behaviors, but also raised people's attention to health and generated health-promoting behaviors. However, little is known about the mechanism underlying how the perception of COVID-19 intensity affects health behaviors. The present study investigated the mediating effect of DBTP between event intensity and health behaviors and the moderating role of gender in this relation. Nine hundred and twenty-four Chinese college students (348 males and 576 females) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires, including COVID-19 Event Intensity Scale, Chinese version of Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) and Healthy Lifestyle Scale. Moderated mediation analysis was performed using conditional process analysis. The results showed that COVID-19 intensity had a positive predictive effect on college students' health behaviors. DBTP played a partial mediating role in the relationship between COVID-19 intensity and health behaviors for male and not female. In female group, COVID-19 intensity and DBTP was significantly linked with health behaviour; however, COVID-19 intensity and DBTP were not significantly linked. The findings indicated that COVID-19 intensity perceived by college students could increase their health behaviors, and intervention focus on BTP may contribute to health behaviors only in male. Practical implications were discussed in this academic research.

Analyzing Risk Communication, Trust, Risk Perception, Negative Emotions, and Behavioral Coping Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic in China Using a Structural Equation Model

Objective

Risk communication and the degree of trust are major factors that affect the public's behavioral coping strategies and play an important role in emergency risk management. However, the internal formation mechanism involved in the public's psychological behavior remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association among risk communication, trust, risk perception, negative emotions, and behavioral coping strategies during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and to identify and quantify the factors that influence public behavior.

Methods

We launched an online survey through social media from April to July 2020 in China. Relevant data were elicited using a self-designed questionnaire that mainly examined respondent characteristics, risk communication, trust, risk perception, negative emotions, protective coping behavior, and excessive coping behavior in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 735 valid responses were obtained. A structural equation model was then used to explore relationship pathways among the components.

Results

The higher the degree of risk communication (β = -0.10, p < 0.05) and trust (β = -0.22, p < 0.001), the lower the public risk perception. Risk communication and trust had a direct effect on public behavioral coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The higher the level of risk communication (β = 0.14, p < 0.001) or trust (β = 0.48, p < 0.001), the more likely it was that this would encourage the public to adopt protective coping behaviors, while the public was less likely to engage in excessive coping behaviors as the degree of trust increased (β = -0.12, p < 0.01). Risk perception influenced by poor risk communication and trust generated negative emotions (β = 0.31, p < 0.001), and such negative emotions further positively influenced public behavioral coping strategies (whether protective [β = 0.09, p < 0.05] or excessive [β = 0.24, p < 0.001] behaviors).

Conclusion

Risk communication, trust, risk perception, and negative emotions were significantly directly or indirectly related to public behavior. The findings provide useful information for emergency risk management and a theoretical basis for follow-up research on public coping behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The longitudinal relation between time perspective and preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of risk perception

Understanding psychological factors and the mechanisms involved in compliance with recommended preventive behaviors against COVID-19 is important for effective public health strategies. Time perspective was previously linked with risk perception and health-related behaviors, but it has not been explored in the context of infectious diseases. Furthermore, little is known about the explaining mechanisms that may link time perspective with adoption of preventive behaviors against health threats. The aim of the present study was to examine the longitudinal relations between time perspectives and COVID-19 risk perception and preventive behaviors. Using a six-month longitudinal design, we explored the mediating role of risk perception on the relations between the Zimbardo's time perspectives, and preventive behaviors to protect from COVID-19. Time perspectives and COVID-19 risk perception were assessed after the lock-down (May 2020) and preventive behaviors were reported after six months (December 2020) via online surveys in a sample of 460 Romanian young adults, aged 18 to 66 years (Mage = 25.53, 87.8% women). Path analysis revealed that risk perception (i.e., perceived severity of COVID-19) mediated the relations of past negative, positive and negative future time perspectives with adoption of preventive behaviors. Our findings highlight that risk perception is an important mechanism in explaining the relation between time perspectives and preventive behaviors against major health-threats such as COVID-19.