The world has been under the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic for the last few months. While people may take many preventive behaviours to minimize the risk, very little is known about the factors that can increase preventive behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the effects of vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear on preventive behaviours of COVID-19.The study used a sample of 4,536 Turkish adults (M = 30.33 ± 10.95 years) recruited from 17 March through 1 April 2020. Vulnerability, perceived risk, fear, and preventive behaviours were measured with self-rating scales.Participants mostly engaged in avoidance of public transportation and frequent handwashing as preventive behaviours. Women had a significantly higher vulnerability to, perceived risk, and fear of new coronavirus compared to men. Correlation results indicated that age, gender, education level, vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear were related to preventive behaviours. Regression results demonstrated that vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear accounted for a significant amount of variance in preventive behaviours over and above the effects of demographic variables.The results suggest that vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear can significantly increase engagement in preventive behaviours during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The results have important implications for research and practice.

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Aim Media as a source of information can shape public opinion regarding the COVID-19 response. Identifying how and where people seek information during the COVID-19 outbreak is vital to convey the most effective message about managing the COVID-19 crisis. The purpose of this study was to determine the sources of information and investigate the role of various demographic factors-age, gender, educational attainment and perceived economic level-on sources of information. Subject and methods An online survey (n = 4624) was conducted on Turkish public during the early stages of the COVID-19. Results The results showed that internet journalism and social media were the most preferable sources of information. Higher age, educational attainment and economic level were related to higher levels of seeking information from TV, newspaper, internet journalism and informative meetings. Females obtained information more from their friends and family and social media than males. High school graduates or below watched more TV and obtained less information from internet journalism, while university graduates sought information from their families and friends, and postgraduates attended informative meetings and read newspapers. People with medium and high economic status, respectively, watched more TV and read more newspapers, while people with low socioeconomic status attended informative meetings less. Conclusion In sum, this study provides evidence that a source of information might be influenced by demographic factors. Researchers and policymakers can use a source of information to develop crisis-response strategies by considering variations in the demographic factors.

Background and Objectives: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has unprecedently affected many aspects of people’s lives including their health. This study examined the mediating effect of COVID-19 coping strategies on the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and general health. Design: Cross-sectional, correlational study.Methods: Participants (70% females) included 4,624 adults (Mage=30.29±10.97 years) collected through online survey. Results: Exploratory factor analysis yielded a one-factor structure for the COVID-19 Anxiety Scale, COVID-19 Coping Scale, and General Health Scale which exhibited good internal consistency reliability. Findings showed that COVID-19 anxiety was negatively related with COVID-19 coping and general health. COVID-19 coping had a positive relationship with general health. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that COVID-19 coping partially mediated the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and general health. Conclusions: These findings shed more light on the mechanism underlying between COVID-19 anxiety and health. The findings are important for tailoring and implementing coping-based intervention strategies to reduce the impact of COVID-19 anxiety on general health.

This study aims to examine the association between family communication and psychological distress with coping as a potential mediator. The study also developed and validated the Family Communication Scale (FCS) in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Participants ( n = 658; 74.9% female) were general public ranged in age between 18 and 58 years (mean age = 26.38, SD = 10.01). The results showed that family communication directly influenced psychological distress and indirectly influenced through approach coping. However, avoidant coping was not directly associated with psychological distress, nor did it mediate the association between family communication and psychological distress. The findings suggest that people, who have better family communication, highly engage in approach coping which in turn leads to better psychological health in face of adversity. The findings have important empirical and theoretical implications.

Aim: Media as a source of information can shape public opinion toward COVID-19 response. Identifying how and where people seek information during COVID-19 outbreak is vital to convey the most effective message about managing the COVID-19 crisis. The purpose of this study was to determine the source of information and investigate the role of various demographic factors - age, gender, educational attainment, and perceived economic level – on source of information. Subject and Methods: An online survey (n = 4,624) was conducted on the Turkish public during early stages of the COVID-19. Results: The results showed that internet journalism and social media were the most preferable source of information. Higher age, educational attainment, and economic level were related to higher levels of seeking information from TV, newspaper, internet journalism, and informative meetings. Females obtained information more from their friends and family, and social media than males. High school graduates or below watched more TV and obtained less information from internet journalism, while university graduates sought information from their families and friends, and that postgraduates attended informative meeting and read newspapers. People with medium and high economic status respectively watched more TV and read more newspapers while people with low socioeconomic status attended less in informative meetings. Conclusion: In sum, this study provides evidence that a source of information might be influenced by demographic factors. Researchers and policymakers can use a source of information to develop crisis-response strategies by considering variations in the demographic factors.

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The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected the education system at all levels around the world. Coping with the essentialities of online teaching and learning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aims to give insights into the interpretation of online teaching during the lockdown in Turkey. We applied an 'opinions regarding online education' survey (n = 1,007) to examine students' attitudes towards online education. The participants were students having online classes due to COVID-19 lockdown at different universities in Turkey. Results showed that COVID-19 quarantine has influenced the academic performance of most participants to fluctuating degrees. Yet, most participants believed that online classes could not replace actual classes (n = 725; 72.0%), while only 10.1% of them believed online classes could replace face-to-face classes. Besides, students regularly attending the online classes have positive online education attitudes higher than those of the students who sometimes or never attend the lessons. Thus, this study presents a general illustration of ongoing online education activities during the lockdown and subsequently gives recommendations for future digital learning activities. RESUMENEl nuevo coronavirus (COVID-19) ha afectado al sistema educativo a todos los niveles en todo el mundo. Este estudio trata de contribuir al conocimiento de la aplicación de la educación en línea durante el confinamiento en Turquía y de cómo se han gestionado los elementos básicos de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje durante la pandemia. Para ello, utilizamos el cuestionario 'Opiniones sobre la educación en línea' (n = 1,007) para analizar las actitudes de los estudiantes frente a la educación en línea. Los participantes eran estudiantes que recibieron clases telemáticas durante el confinamiento en diversas universidades turcas. Los resultados revelan que el confinamiento ha influido en el rendimiento académico de la mayoría de los participantes en distinto ARTICLE HISTORY