The roles of risk perception, negative emotions and perceived efficacy in the association between COVID-19 infection cues and preventive behaviors: a moderated mediation model

BMC Public Health

Research

Qi Li¹  Xiaoyan Yuan²  Guangteng Meng³  Xun Liu³  Bibing Dai⁴  Ya Zheng⁵  Kesong Hu⁶ 

[1] Beijing Key Laboratory of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, 100048, Beijing, China;Big Data Group, Smart Platform R&D Department, Tianjin Meiteng Technology Co., Ltd, 300381, Tianjin, China;CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, China;Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China;Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tianjin Medical University, 300070, Tianjin, China;Department of Psychology, Dalian Medical University, 116044, Dalian, China;Department of Psychology, Lake Superior State University, Sault St. Marie, MI, USA;

关键词: COVID-19;    Infection cues;    Preventive behaviors;    Risk perception;    Negative emotions;    Perceived efficacy;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-022-14870-7

 received in 2022-06-25, accepted in 2022-12-14,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic are especially critical to the protection of individuals whose family members or acquaintances have been infected. However, limited research has explored the influence of infection cues on preventive behaviors. This study proposed an interaction model of environment-cognitive/affective-behavior to elucidate the mechanism by which infection cues influence preventive behaviors and the roles of risk perception, negative emotions, and perceived efficacy in that influence. To explore the relationships among these factors, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey in 34 provinces in China during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 26,511 participants responded to the survey, and 20,205 valid responses (76.2%) were obtained for further analysis. The moderated mediation results show that infection cues positively predicted preventive behaviors in a manner mediated by risk perception and negative emotions. Moreover, perceived efficacy moderated the influence of infection cues not only on preventive behaviors but also on risk perception and negative emotions. The higher the perceived efficacy, the stronger these influences were. These findings validated our model, which elucidates the mechanisms underlying the promoting effect of infection cues on preventive behaviors during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The implications of these results for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond are discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022

【 图 表 】

Fig. 1

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