Network-Exposure Severity and Self-Protective Behaviors: The Case of COVID-19

Abstract

Background and Objectives To clarify whether awareness of the extent and severity of exposure to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus in the social networks of older adults is related to the engagement by the latter in self-protective behaviors. The inquiry is guided by the Health Belief Model and by concepts from the domain of social networks. Research Design and Methods Data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) were used, including the SHARE COVID-19 Survey executed in the summer of 2020. The study sample numbered 33,053 persons aged 50 and older in 25 countries. We regressed a logged count of self-protective behaviors on network-exposure severity, controlling for sociodemographic background, country, personality traits, and self-exposure severity. Age and network-exposure interaction terms were examined, as were "close-family" and "other" network ties. Results Network-exposure severity was positively associated with the extent of engagement in self-protective behaviors among older adults, but mainly among the oldest group, aged 70 and older. Awareness of exposure severity in "close-family" and "other" networks were similarly associated with self-protection. Respondents from countries with the lowest rates of COVID-19 infection at the time (Latvia, Finland, and Denmark) engaged in fewer self-protective behaviors, while those from countries with high infection rates (Spain, Italy, and Portugal), self-protected to a greater degree. Discussion and Implications The study findings point to the role of the social network, even if indirect, in promoting self-protective behaviors among the oldest segment of society. Policymakers should collaborate with the social networks of older adults in order to promote the adoption of self-protective behaviors. Such intervention might help to reduce the threat of infection among the most vulnerable age group.

National variability in Americans’ COVID-19 protective behaviors: Implications for vaccine roll-out

“…Future research should consider using social network analysis to study smaller networks than our national study. Such research would assess if and how the COVID-19 protective behaviors documented in our study are interrelated within social networks, as documented in Litwin and Levinsky's research with an older population [34] and as suggested by socio-physical model theory.…”

Motivating Protective Behavior against COVID-19: Fear Versus Hope

“…The first two indicators are categorized as “mild” and the two last ones as “severe.” Multiple answers are assigned according to the most severe response category. Since Litwin and Levinsky (2021) show that self-exposure and network-exposure are similarly associated with protective behavior in terms of direction, significance, and magnitude, we do not distinguish between these two types of exposure.…”

“…While the main motivating factor among younger people is a pro-social orientation ( Franzen & Woehner, 2021 ), the motivation to self-protect increases with age because most older people perceive themselves as more vulnerable and at risk ( Brug et al, 2004 ; Jørgensen et al, 2021 ; Yıldırım et al, 2021 ). Distinguishing between older age groups can be useful since other studies (e.g., Litwin & Levinsky, 2021 ; Pasion et al, 2020) even found that the oldest age group (age 70 or more) reported lower perceived risk and showed less protective behavior compared with younger old people (age 60–69).…”

COVID-19 preventive behaviours among population 50+ in Poland

“…The analogous argumentation through increased expected severity may be applied to behavioural risk factors, such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and unhealthy food intake but the empirical results showed either no association with the behavioural change or a negative effect depending on the preventive measures taken into consideration (Mendoza-Jiménez, Hannemann, & Atzendorf, 2021). Exposure to COVID-19 among the members of the social network was also argued to work through the pathway of perceived severity (Litwin & Levinsky, 2021).…”

“…Behavioural strategies for reducing COVID-19 transmission are constructive actions and thus they are expected to be positively correlated with conscientiousness and negatively with neuroticism. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the studies on behaviour of older Europeans found that the conscientiousness and neuroticism were positively correlated with preventive measures (Litwin & Levinsky, 2021;Mendoza-Jiménez et al, 2021;Sand & Bristle, 2021). The results for extraversion, agreeableness, and openness were mixed and depended, among other, on the type of behaviour that was under consideration.…”