The roles of risk perception, negative emotions and perceived efficacy in the association between COVID-19 infection cues and preventive behaviors: a moderated mediation model

Abstract

Preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic are especially critical to the protection of individuals whose family members or acquaintances have been infected. However, limited research has explored the influence of infection cues on preventive behaviors. This study proposed an interaction model of environment-cognitive/affective-behavior to elucidate the mechanism by which infection cues influence preventive behaviors and the roles of risk perception, negative emotions, and perceived efficacy in that influence. To explore the relationships among these factors, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey in 34 provinces in China during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 26,511 participants responded to the survey, and 20,205 valid responses (76.2%) were obtained for further analysis. The moderated mediation results show that infection cues positively predicted preventive behaviors in a manner mediated by risk perception and negative emotions. Moreover, perceived efficacy moderated the influence of infection cues not only on preventive behaviors but also on risk perception and negative emotions. The higher the perceived efficacy, the stronger these influences were. These findings validated our model, which elucidates the mechanisms underlying the promoting effect of infection cues on preventive behaviors during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The implications of these results for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond are discussed.

Bounded rationality in healthcare: unraveling the psychological factors behind patient satisfaction in China

“…In addition, this study shed light on the moderating role of negative emotions in the medical risk perception–negative emotions–patient satisfaction pathway (H5). This finding is similar to those of Gan and Fu (2022) and Meng et al (2023) . The results showed that a high degree of negative emotions can enhance patients’ sensitivity to medical risks and magnify their impact on satisfaction.…”

A network analysis of subjective well-being in Chinese high school students

“…This was similar to the findings of Paciello et al [ 44 ], who found an association between self-efficacy and SWB, while self-efficacy was associated with regulating negative emotions, getting help from others, and self-regulating learning [ 45 ]. Negative emotions was defined as a basic subjective experience of being depressed and in an unpleasant situation, including emotional states such as depression, anxiety, anger, sadness, etc [ 46 , 47 ].…”

COVID‐19 risk perception and negative emotional symptoms: Mediating role of self‐control and moderating role of life history strategy

“…Within the Risk‐Resilience Model (Masten, 2001), past research has predominantly focused on the moderating role of internal assets with social features (e.g., Meng et al, 2023; Ren et al, 2022; Xue et al, 2023). However, our study expands this model by adopting an evolutionary perspective.…”

“…Meanwhile, the Risk‐Resilience Model (Masten, 2001) also indicates that sufficient resources can offset the intensifying effects of risk and adversity on negative outcomes. Previous studies have mainly focused on internal/external assets characterized by social features (e.g., Meng et al, 2023; Ren et al, 2022; Xue et al, 2023). Our study proposes to investigate an internal asset with evolutionary characteristics—the life history strategy—and its moderating role in modern challenges, such as the COVID‐19 pandemic.…”