Risk Perception and Protective Behaviors During the Rise of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy

Abstract

Risk perception is important in determining health-protective behavior. During the rise of the COVID-19 epidemic, we tested a comprehensive structural equation model of risk perception to explain adherence to protective behaviors in a crisis context using a survey of 572 Italian citizens. We identified two categories of protective behaviors, labeled promoting hygiene and cleaning, and avoiding social closeness. Social norms and risk perceptions were the more proximal antecedents of both categories. Cultural worldviews, affect, and experience of COVID-19 were the more distal predictors. Promoting hygiene and cleaning was triggered by the negative affective attitude toward coronavirus and mediated by an affective appraisal of risk. The deliberate dimension of risk perception (perceived likelihood) predicted only avoiding social closeness. Social norms predicted both types of behaviors and mediated the relations of cultural worldviews. Individualism (vs. communitarianism), more than hierarchy (vs. egalitarianism), shaped the affective evaluation of coronavirus. The model was an acceptable fit to the data and accounted for 20% and 29% of the variance in promoting hygiene and cleaning, and avoiding social closeness, respectively. The findings were robust to the effect of sociodemographic factors (age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, and zone of the country). Taken together, our findings confirmed the empirical distinction between affective and deliberate processes in risk perception, supported the validity of the affect heuristic, and highlighted the role of social norms as an account for why individualistic people were less likely to follow the prescribed health-protective behaviors. Implications for risk communication are discussed.

COVID-19 risk perception: a longitudinal analysis of its predictors and associations with health protective behaviours in the United Kingdom

“…Risk perception and behaviour were more strongly correlated in January 2021 compared to both March and May 2020, suggesting that later in the pandemic a given increase in risk perception was associated with a larger increase in reported health behaviours compared to earlier in the pandemic. These findings are generally consistent with the literature that has highlighted the important link between risk perception and health protective behaviours, both generally and during pandemics (Abdelrahman 2020; Bish and Michie 2010; Bruine de Bruin and Bennett 2020; Floyd, Prentice-Dunn, and Rogers 2000;Nelson et al 2020;Plohl and Musil 2021;Rudisill 2013;Savadori and Lauriola 2020;Sobkow et al 2020;van der Weerd et al 2011;Wise et al 2020).…”

“…Future work could examine the direction of the risk perception-behaviour link over time. Importantly, other work that has looked at the relationship between risk perception and behaviour on COVID-19 does suggest risk perception as an antecedent of behaviour (Savadori and Lauriola 2020), but the use of cross-lagged panel models would allow for a more detailed examination.…”

Knowledge, Attitudes and Covid-19-Related Behavior Among Individuals Aged 50 and Older in Latvia

“…Health-protective behavior resulting in positive outcomes during a crisis depends directly on everyone's health-literacy level and can have an important role in both the prevention and control of spread of infectious diseases. The existing literature indicates that knowledge and attitude significantly correlated with the risk perception regarding infectious diseases and health-protective behavior (Brewer et al, 2007;Zwart et al, 2009;Savadori & Lauriola, 2021). Social media have high power to produce misinformation in emergency communication during times of crisis to manage public outreach.…”

“…Both the prevention and control of spread of infectious diseases can be positively affected by health-protective behavior of the general population as well as of people in risk groups. (Brewer et al, 2007;Zwart et al, 2009;Savadori & Lauriola, 2021…”

“…Health-protective behavior toward infectious diseases is often associated with substantial fear and anxiety in the general population or specific communities, especially when morbidity and mortality rates are relatively high. The pressure caused by physical distancing resulting in lack of contact with family or friends, in fear of going out, the compulsive need to hoard food and essentials or medical supplies, and stigma toward people with symptoms of coronavirus infection are the possible experiences of people during a pandemic (Tognotti, 2013;Riva, Benedetti & Cesana, 2014;Savadori et al, 2021).…”