Don’t say it’s over: The perceived epidemic stage and COVID preventive behaviour

Little is known about the perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic’s dynamic and its effect on self-protective behaviour. Using survey data from 1343 university students we explored how the perceived temporal distance to the COVID pandemic peak associates with risk perception and the adherence of preven...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Journal of health psychology 2024-09, Vol.29 (10), p.1150-1163
Hauptverfasser: Sinyavskaya, Yadviga, Eritsyan, Ksenia, Antonova, Natalia, Sharin, Nikita
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Little is known about the perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic’s dynamic and its effect on self-protective behaviour. Using survey data from 1343 university students we explored how the perceived temporal distance to the COVID pandemic peak associates with risk perception and the adherence of preventive behaviours. Results show that individuals differ in their perception of the pandemic stage despite being in the same environment. The belief that the COVID peak is in the past was associated with less perceived risk and decreased self-protection. A high COVID-19 media involvement and trust in the authorities were associated with higher perceived risk and preventive behaviour implementation. Overall, the perception that the pandemic wave is in its final stages could be an independent predictor of more risky behaviour. Thus, the communication of the pandemic dynamic should be provided by policy makers with caution to avoid the possibility of discounting the risk.
ISSN:1359-1053
1461-7277
1461-7277
DOI:10.1177/13591053231222338