Online Survey of the Impact of COVID-19 Risk and Cost Estimates on Worry and Health Behavior Compliance in Young Adults

Frontiers in Public Health

article

Gabriella Imbriano¹  Emmett M. Larsen¹  Daniel M. Mackin²  Akaisha Kaixuan An¹  Christian C. Luhmann³  Aprajita Mohanty¹  Jingwen Jin⁴ 

[1] Cognition and Psychopathology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, United States;Klein Developmental Psychopathology Lab, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, United States;Cognition & Decision Making Lab, Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, United States;Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong

关键词: COVID-19;    decision making;    probability;    cost;    worry;    health;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2021.612725

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is associated with elevated rates of anxiety and relatively lower compliance with public health guidelines in younger adults. To develop strategies for reducing anxiety and increasing adherence with health guidelines, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to anxiety and health compliance in the context of COVID-19. Earlier research has shown that greater perceived risk of negative events and their costs are associated with increased anxiety and compliance with health behaviors, but it is unclear what role they play in a novel pandemic surrounded by uncertainty. In the present study we measured (1) perceived risk as the self-reported probability of being infected and experiencing serious symptoms due to COVID-19 and (2) perceived cost as financial, real-world, physical, social, and emotional consequences of being infected with COVID-19. Worry was assessed using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PWSQ) and health compliance was measured as endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO) health directives for COVID-19. Our results showed that greater perceived risk and costs of contracting the COVID-19 virus were associated with greater worry and while only costs were associated with greater compliance with health behaviors. Neither self-reported worry nor its interaction with cost estimates was associated with increased engagement in health behaviors. Our results provide important insight into decision making mechanisms involved in both increased anxiety and health compliance in COVID-19 and have implications for developing psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic strategies to target both domains.

【 授权许可】

CC BY