Abstract
The current study provides data about the immediate risk perceptions and psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among Italian participants. A sample of 980 volunteers answered a web-based survey which aimed to investigate the many facets of risk perceptions connected to COVID-19 (health, work, institutional-economy, interpersonal and psychological), and risk-related variables such as perceived knowledge, news seeking, perceived control, perceived efficacy of containment measures, and affective states. Socio-demographic characteristics were also collected. Results showed that although levels of general concern are relatively high among Italians, risk perceptions are highest with regards to the institutional-economy and work, and lowest concerning health. COVID-19 has been also estimated to be the least likely cause of death. Cognitive and affective risk-related variables contributed to explain the several risk perception domains differently. COVID-19 perceived knowledge did not affect any risk perception while the perceived control decreased health risk likelihood. The other risk-related variables amplified risk perceptions: News seeking increased work and institutional-economy risk; perceived efficacy of containment measures increased almost all perceived risks; negative affective states of fear, anger and sadness increased health risk; anxiety increased health, interpersonal and psychological risks, and uncertainty increased work, institutional-economy, interpersonal and psychological risk perceptions. Finally, positive affective states increased health risk perception. Socio-psychological implications are discussed.
Highlights
On 8th December 2019 the first case of Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan (China), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Intra correlations among items composing each variable of interest, Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) values for the multicollinearity, and LMG measures are reported in Supplementary Material
In Italy, the devastating effects of the lockdown have had an impact on several domains: The collapsing health system, a deep and difficult-to-solve economywork crisis, high levels of distress and so on
Summary
On 8th December 2019 the first case of Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan (China), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The CoV-19 virus is believed to have originated from an infection probably obtained via zoonotic transmission starting at Wuhan’s seafood market. This event may be considered as the beginning of a global pandemic which, in only two months, has wreaked terrible damage all over the word. At the time of writing, Italy has been one of the most damaged countries with over 30.000 victims. On 21th February 2020, the first Italian case was registered in Codogno (Lombardy) and in under one month, the virus spread rapidly. On 11th March 2020 a national lockdown was imposed to the whole country (Phase 1). To deal with the COVID-19 emergency, Italy moved into three phases, as follows:
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