Shou Y, Smithson M, Gulliver A, Murray K, Banfield M, Rodney Harris RM, McCallum SM, Farrer LM, Calear AL, Batterham PJ. Risk tolerance and changes in coronavirus disease (COVID) related health behaviors: A longitudinal study.
Health Psychol 2022;
41:507-518. [PMID:
35759006 DOI:
10.1037/hea0001197]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
The present study examined behavioral responses during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the role of dispositional risk tolerance in the Australian context.
METHOD
The study involved a six-wave longitudinal investigation with a nationally representative sample of Australians (N = 1,296). Dispositional risk tolerance was measured at Wave 1 and participants' anxiety level and self-report implementation of 10 COVID actions was assessed in each wave. Autoregressive multinomial regression models were estimated to assess the unique contribution of risk tolerance to the longitudinal change of participants' implementation of COVID actions.
RESULTS
The results revealed a high implementation rate for protective actions when Australia had a peak in the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently declined with the easing threat of the pandemic. Individuals' dispositional risk tolerance significantly predicted transition to, and endorsement of, protective actions. Participants who had low risk tolerance were more likely to remain at the state of implementing COVID-19 measures than being in, or transitioning to, other states.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that when encouraging protective actions, governments and public authorities should acknowledge variability in the community in responding to risk and consider measures in addition to risk messaging to encourage protective actions among individuals with a high level of risk tolerance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Collapse