Pathways Improving Compliance with Preventive Behaviors during the Remission Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Jingjing Wang, Nanyue Rao and Buxin Han
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Jingjing Wang: CAS Key Lab of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
Nanyue Rao: CAS Key Lab of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
Buxin Han: CAS Key Lab of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-12

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic poses a significant threat to people’s lives. Compliance with preventive behaviors, recommended by public health authorities, is essential for infection control. In the remission stage, one year after the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China, we advanced a moderated parallel mediation model of the link between risk perception and compliance with preventive behaviors as well as a serial mediation model of the link between optimism and compliance with preventive behaviors, explaining the roles of various psychosocial factors in these associations. In January 2021, 200 participants under 50 years of age, located in 80 Chinese cities, participated in an online survey assessing risk perception, compliance with preventive behaviors, fear, anxiety, political trust, government dependency, and dispositional optimism. The results showed that the effect of risk perception on compliance with preventive behaviors was mediated by political trust and fear, and was moderated by government dependency. Anxiety and fear serially mediated the effect of optimism on compliance with preventive behaviors. Our study provided implications for future research to reduce negative emotions, strengthen confidence in the government, and sustain moderate government dependency accompanied by individual self-efficacy.

Keywords: COVID-19; risk perception; compliance with preventive behaviors; fear; anxiety; political trust; government dependency; dispositional optimism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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