Abstract
The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is associated with elevated rates of anxiety and relatively lower compliance with public health guidelines in younger adults. To develop strategies for reducing anxiety and increasing adherence with health guidelines, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to anxiety and health compliance in the context of COVID-19. Earlier research has shown that greater perceived risk of negative events and their costs are associated with increased anxiety and compliance with health behaviors, but it is unclear what role they play in a novel pandemic surrounded by uncertainty. In the present study we measured (1) perceived risk as the self-reported probability of being infected and experiencing serious symptoms due to COVID-19 and (2) perceived cost as financial, real-world, physical, social, and emotional consequences of being infected with COVID-19. Worry was assessed using the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PWSQ) and health compliance was measured as endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO) health directives for COVID-19. Our results showed that greater perceived risk and costs of contracting the COVID-19 virus were associated with greater worry and while only costs were associated with greater compliance with health behaviors. Neither self-reported worry nor its interaction with cost estimates was associated with increased engagement in health behaviors. Our results provide important insight into decision making mechanisms involved in both increased anxiety and health compliance in COVID-19 and have implications for developing psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic strategies to target both domains.
Highlights
The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic poses a major public health threat in our current global community
For effective messaging and psychoeducation, it is important to understand the decision-making mechanisms that contribute to compliance with COVID-19-related public health directives critical to effective containment of viral spreading in young adults
Beliefs about COVID-19 perceived costs were positively associated with engagement in health behaviors, r(238)
Summary
The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic poses a major public health threat in our current global community. The negative effects of this pandemic are experienced at the individual (e.g., insecurity and emotional isolation) and community (e.g., economic loss, school closures) level, and these effects translate into mental health consequences, such as anxiety and worry, as well as non-compliance with public health directives, such as social distancing and hand washing [1]. For effective messaging and psychoeducation, it is important to understand the decision-making mechanisms that contribute to compliance with COVID-19-related public health directives critical to effective containment of viral spreading in young adults. We examined whether perceived risk and costs of developing COVID-19 influences levels of worry and compliance to health recommendations in young adults
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