Influence of risk information and perception on residents’ flood behavioural responses in Inland Northern China

Yi Liu, Tiezhong Liu (), Xiaohan Yan, Haoju Song and Shouhua Xu
Additional contact information
Yi Liu: Beijing Institute of Technology
Tiezhong Liu: Beijing Institute of Technology
Xiaohan Yan: Beijing Institute of Technology
Haoju Song: Beijing Institute of Technology
Shouhua Xu: Beijing Institute of Technology

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2025, vol. 121, issue 5, No 46, 6285-6314

Abstract: Abstract In recent years, the frequency and severity of extreme flood hazards have increased as a consequence of global warming, exposing non-disaster-prone regions to unprecedented risk. While traditional risk communication research has focused on risk information and individual factors such as residents’ emotion and cognition in relation to flood problem-focused coping, comprehensive consideration of these interrelated factors and their link to emotion-focused coping has been lacking. Thus, this study examined these relationships among 619 residents of Mentougou District, Beijing—a northern inland city of China. Hierarchical ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression and multiple parallel mediation analyses were employed to determine the influence of risk information and perception on residents’ behavioural responses. The results indicated the following: (1) Residents display a high willingness for both problem- and emotion-focused coping, with no discernible preference for either. (2) Education level significantly affects both coping styles, while age influences only problem-focused coping; substantial losses from previous flood experiences diminish residents’ emotional coping capacity. (3) The quality and credibility of risk information positively affect both behavioural responses. (4) Affective risk perception supports only emotion-focused coping, whereas cognitive risk perception positively impacts both coping types. Additionally, affective and cognitive risk perceptions jointly mediate the link between risk information credibility and emotion-focused coping. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by elucidating the underlying processes and mechanisms that shape flood behavioural responses, offering valuable insights for improving flood risk management in non-disaster-prone areas.

Keywords: Inland flood disaster; Risk information; Risk perception; Emotion-focused coping; Problem-focused coping; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-024-07023-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:121:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s11069-024-07023-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-024-07023-z

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().