Background Slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) requires behavioral changes such as physical distancing (e.g., staying a 6-foot distance from others, avoiding mass gatherings, reducing houseguests), wearing masks, reducing trips to nonessential business establishments, and increasing hand washing. Like other health behaviors, COVID-19 related behaviors may be related to risk representations. Risk representations are the cognitive responses a person holds about illness risk such as, identity (i.e., label/characteristics of risk), cause (i.e., factors causing condition), timeline (i.e., onset/duration of risk), consequences (i.e., intrapersonal/interpersonal outcomes), behavioral efficacy (i.e., if and how the condition can be controlled/treated), and illness risk coherence (i.e., extent to which representations, behaviors, and beliefs are congruent). The current study applies the Common-Sense Model of Self-Regulation (CSM-SR) to evaluate how risk representations may relate to COVID-19 protective and risk behaviors. Methods Participants include 400 workers from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk aged ≥ 18 years and US residents. Participants completed an online survey measuring risk representations (B-IPQ) and COVID-19 related behaviors, specifically, physical distancing, hand washing, and shopping frequency. Results Risk coherence, consequences, timeline, emotional representation, and behavioral efficacy were related to risk and protective behaviors. Conclusions Risk representations vary in their relationship to COVID-19 risk and protective behaviors. Implications include the importance of coherent, targeted, consistent health communication, and effective health policy in mitigating the spread of COVID-19.
Climate change is the greatest threat to global health in human history. It has been declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization and leading researchers from academic institutions around the globe. Structural racism disproportionately exposes communities targeted for marginalization to the harmful consequences of climate change through greater risk of exposure and sensitivity to climate hazards and less adaptive capacity to the health threats of climate change. Given its interdisciplinary approach to integrating behavioral, psychosocial, and biomedical knowledge, the discipline of behavioral medicine is uniquely qualified to address the systemic causes of climate change-related health inequities and can offer a perspective that is currently missing from many climate and health equity efforts. In this article, we summarize relevant concepts, describe how climate change and structural racism intersect to exacerbate health inequities, and recommend six strategies with the greatest potential for addressing climate-related health inequities.
Purpose Despite having lower socioeconomic status, Latinos in the US experience fewer adverse health outcomes than non-Latinos. However, they are disproportionately affected by diet-related diseases. Among other racial/ethnic groups, high acculturation and low socioeconomic status are associated with worse dietary intake, yet, few studies have investigated these relationships among Latinos. Design 2013–2014 NHANES analyzed to examine pathways through which acculturation, income, nativity, and food security are associated with dietary behaviors. Setting U.S. population-based survey. Sample Survey respondents >18 years old and identified as Latino/Hispanic (N = 1197; 53.88% female; Mage = 44.61). Measures Primary language spoken (acculturation), total household income (income), place of birth (nativity), Food security, and the Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey (dietary behavior). Analysis Univariate and multivariate regressions in STATA. Covariates include length of time in the US, ethnicity/Hispanic origin (i.e., “Mexican American” or “Other Hispanic”), and gender. Results Nativity ( β = −1.16; SE = .19; P < .001) and income ( β = .39; SE = .07; P < .001) were significant predictors of dietary behavior. Foreign-born Latinos and those with lower income consumed significantly lower numbers of fast-food or pizza. Food security was not a significant predictor of dietary behavior ( β = .16; SE = .1; P > .05). Conclusions Results suggest that income is not a protective factor against unhealthy dietary behavior and a renewed importance of nativity as a predictor of health behavior among Latinos.
People with chronic illnesses are at increased risk of contracting COVID‐19. Still, little is known about whether such an increased risk relates to COVID‐19‐related protective behaviors among those with chronic illness. This study compares the self‐reported COVID‐19 risky and protective behaviors—specifically physically distancing, handwashing, and having houseguests—of people (N = 936) (1) living with chronic illnesses or (2) cohabiting with someone with chronic illness to those who fall in neither category at the beginning of the COVID‐19 pandemic (April 2020). Study results were mixed: people with a chronic illness were more likely to have had houseguests in the past 5 days and less likely to have increased their handwashing in response to the pandemic, but were also more likely to physical distance when outside the home. Those cohabiting with someone with a chronic illness were more likely to have had houseguests, but did not differ in other outcomes.
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