The global spread of COVID-19 requires not only national-level responses but also active compliance with individual-level prevention measures. Because COVID-19 is an infectious disease that spreads through human contact, it is impossible to end its spread without individuals’ active cooperation and preventive behavior. This study analyzes the effects of health beliefs and resource factors on behaviors to prevent COVID-19. In particular, it analyzes how resource factors moderate the impact of health beliefs on preventive behavior. A regression analysis showed that gender (female), age, number of elderly people in one’s family, perceived severity, perceived benefit, self-efficacy, poor family health, media exposure, knowledge, personal health status, and social support positively affected preventive actions, whereas perceived susceptibility negatively affected them. In explaining preventive actions, self-efficacy had the greatest explanatory power, followed by gender (female), knowledge, personal health status, perceived severity, and social support. In addition, an analysis of moderating effects shows that resource variables, such as education level, personal health status, and social support, play moderating roles in inducing preventive actions.

Along with the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, beliefs in conspiracy theories are spreading within and across countries. This study aims to analyze predictors of beliefs in conspiracy theories. Because previous studies have emphasized only specific political, psychological, or structural factors or variables, this study constructs an integrated analytical model that includes all three factors. We analyze data from a large-scale survey of Koreans (N = 1525) and find several results. First, political, psychological, and structural factors influence beliefs in conspiracy theories. Second, when we examine the specific influences of the variables, we find that authoritarianism, support for minority parties, religiosity, trust in SNS (social networking services), perceived risk, anxiety, negative emotions, blame attribution, the quantity of information, health status, and health after COVID-19, all positively influence beliefs in conspiracy theories. Conversely, support for President Moon Jae-In’s government, Christianity, trust in the government, perceived control, analytic thinking, knowledge, the quality of information, and gender, all negatively impact these beliefs. Among the predictors, the quality of information, health status, support for President Moon Jae-In’s government, perceived risk, and anxiety have the most decisive impacts on beliefs in conspiracy theories.

The world is turning into a risky society. Although modernization based on the developments in science and technology has increased individuals’ well-being and wealth, the perceived risk toward the complex technological system has increased. In a risky society, social accidents amplify the existing fear among individuals. It is generally assumed that each value, perception, and resource influences the fear of risk. However, very few studies have tested these three factors together within an integrated causal model. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the determinants that influence the perceived risk in cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), a deadly epidemic disease, in Korea. Based on the theoretical model, we analyzed the survey data collected from respondents (N = 814) in Korea. After controlling for variables such as sociodemographic characteristics, we examined how three competing factors, i.e., value, perception, and resource, influence the perceived risk of MERS. The analysis showed that trust and vulnerability variables in the perception factor, health state, and perceived knowledge in the resource factor had a significant impact on the perceived risk of MERS.

Despite its potential risks, nuclear power energy offers some economic benefits including cheap electricity. This benefit clarifies part of the reason why people support nuclear energy. Our research examined whether there was a difference in the acceptance of nuclear energy across 27 European countries in 2009, before the Fukushima accident. In particular, we analyzed how each factor at the individual and contextual level influences the acceptance. To answer this question, we set up the acceptance of nuclear energy as a dependent variable, and 5 perception variables at the individual level and 11 structural ones at the contextual level as independent variables. We executed multilevel modeling by using a Eurobarometer survey, which covered 27 European countries. The analysis results showed that at the individual level, the perceived benefit explained the largest variance of the acceptance, followed by perceived risk and trust. At the contextual level, the share of the energy supply by nuclear power, environmentalism and ideology influenced the acceptance of nuclear energy. This study shows that individuals' acceptance of nuclear energy is based on individual beliefs and perceptions, but it is also influenced by the institutional and socio-cultural context which each country faces.The above descriptions predict the nuclear energy downturn in Europe. However, the world remains heavily dependent on nuclear energy. According to IAEA [2], in December 2016, 448 reactors operated worldwide with a net capacity of 391,116 MW(e). Moreover, 61 reactors are under construction with a net capacity of 61,264 MW(e), supplying 894.9 TW(e)·h electricity, and from 2011 to 2016, construction started on 33 reactors. Furthermore, the UK, Hungary, and Slovakia recently revealed more favorable moves toward nuclear energy. The UK has operated 15 reactors, generating 21% of its electricity. In November 2015, the UK government expressed policy priorities for UK energy, including a much greater reliance on nuclear energy. In July 2017, the National Grid's Future Energy Scenarios projected that new nuclear plants would generate 14.5 GW(e) by 2035 and 31% of the demand in 2050 would be supplied by nuclear energy [3]. Furthermore, Hungary has operated four nuclear reactors, which generated more than one-third of its electricity. The government had plans to increase nuclear energy's share of electricity by 60%. Four nuclear reactors have generated half of Slovakia's electricity. Two further reactors are under construction [1].Since the change in energy policy depends on the public's attitude toward nuclear energy, to know the structure of acceptance of nuclear energy and its determinant is very important for research themes. Our research question is to ask how each factor at the individual and contextual level influences the acceptance of nuclear energy. Mainly based on a Eurobarometer survey, this study will comparatively analyze the public's attitude toward nuclear energy and its determinants across 27 countries. For this task, we set up the a...

Cultural capital, Subjective well-being, Cultural divide, Quality of life,