Media, Trust in Government, and Risk Perception of COVID-19 in the Early Stage of Epidemic: An Analysis Based on Moderating Effect.

Tao Xu

doi:10.3390/healthcare9111597

Abstract

Previous research has revealed that environmental, social, and cultural factors affect people’s risk perception of COVID-19, especially the influence of media and trust, while the dynamics of how they affect it is still not clear. Through the analysis of online survey data, this article shows that there are two opposed paths of action. Trust in the government will enhance people’s confidence in controlling COVID-19. It then moderates and decreases the effects of people’s level and frequency of concernon the risk perception (both cognition and worries) of COVID-19, on the contrary, obtaining information from unofficial channels also moderates and increases the effects of the people’s level and frequency of concern on the second dimension (worries) of risk perception of COVID-19 rather than the first dimension (cognition). These conclusions have important policy implications for the control of the COVID-19 epidemic all over the world.

Highlights

The outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan rapidly swept the world, it had profound impacts on the economy and society [1,2,3,4,5], and threatened human health both physically and mentally [6,7]
The results showed that there were close relationships between these two variables and the second dimension of risk perception of COVID-19 (p < 0.001), and a positive relationship between the first dimension and frequency of concern about COVID-19 as well
In order to distinguish the influences of multiple factors such as demographic variables, trust in government, having COVID patients or not in the community, obtaining information from the official channel and unofficial channel, frequency of paying attention to COVID-19 epidemic, and level of concern about COVID-19 on risk perception of COVID

Summary

Introduction

The outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan rapidly swept the world, it had profound impacts on the economy and society [1,2,3,4,5], and threatened human health both physically and mentally [6,7]. Experience from all over the world, especially in China, showed that how people perceived the risk of COVID-19 would directly affect their follow-up response behaviors. Higher levels of risk perception were found to be associated with higher intentions to engage in preventive behaviors [11,12,13], it meant that if they believed that the risk of COVID-19 was high and dangerous, they would cooperate with the government’s anti-epidemic behavior, strictly adhering to the restrictions and the government could control the widespread of it and restored the economy and society quickly. It is significant to research people’s risk perception, explore its influencing factors, and the mechanisms behind it, for the society as a whole to formulate relevant coping strategies in a timely and effective manner

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion