Niu Z, Liu L, Mei S, Li L. Latent profile and network analysis of risk perception among a sample of Chinese university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study.
Front Public Health 2024;
11:1171870. [PMID:
38249407 PMCID:
PMC10796724 DOI:
10.3389/fpubh.2023.1171870]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Background
The risk perception of contracting COVID-19 is an important topic for assessing and predicting COVID-19 infection and health education during the pandemic. However, studies that use latent profiles and network analysis together to measure the risk perception of COVID-19 are rare. Therefore, this study combined latent profile analysis and network analysis to measure risk perception toward COVID-19 among Chinese university students through a cross-sectional and longitudinal study.
Methods
A sample of 1,837 Chinese university students (735 males, 40%) completed the cross-sectional study with an eight-item risk perception questionnaire in January 2020, while 334 Chinese university students (111 males, 33.2%) completed the longitudinal study at three time points.
Results
A two-class model including a low risk perception class (n = 1,005, 54.7%) and a high risk perception class (n = 832, 45.3%) was selected for the cross-sectional study. Nodes rp6 ("Average people have chances of contracting COVID-19'') and rp7 ("Average people worry about catching COVID-19") had the strongest edge intensity (r = 0.491), while node rp5 ("The COVID-19 outbreak affects the whole country") had the highest strength centrality in the cross-sectional study. The risk perception of contracting COVID-19 decreased continuously at the three time points. Moreover, the network structures and global strengths had no significant differences in the longitudinal study.
Conclusions
The risk perception of contracting COVID-19 decreased continually during the COVID-19 pandemic, which indicated the importance of cultural influence and effective government management in China. In addition, university students displayed strong trust and confidence in the government's ability to fight COVID-19. The results indicate that the government should take strong measures to prevent and intervene in various risks and reinforce the public's trust through positive media communications.
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