The Impact of Risk Perception on Social Distancing during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China.

Kefan Xie,Maxim A Dulebenets,Yanlan Mei,Benbu Liang

doi:10.3390/ijerph17176256

Abstract

Social distancing is one of the most recommended policies worldwide to reduce diffusion risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a risk management perspective, this study explores the mechanism of the risk perception effect on social distancing in order to improve individual physical distancing behavior. The data for this study were collected from 317 Chinese residents in May 2020 using an internet-based survey. A structural equation model (SEM) and hierarchical linear regression (HLR) analyses were conducted to examine all the considered research hypotheses. The results show that risk perception significantly affects perceived understanding and social distancing behaviors in a positive way. Perceived understanding has a significant positive correlation with social distancing behaviors and plays a mediating role in the relationship between risk perception and social distancing behaviors. Furthermore, safety climate positively predicts social distancing behaviors but lessens the positive correlation between risk perception and social distancing. Hence, these findings suggest effective management guidelines for successful implementation of the social distancing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic by emphasizing the critical role of risk perception, perceived understanding, and safety climate.

Highlights

As the number of global coronavirus cases explodes rapidly, threatening millions of lives, the COVID-19 pandemic has become the fastest spreading, most extensive, and most challenging public health emergency worldwide since World War II [1]
This study investigated the impact of risk perception on social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic
Based on the data collected from an online survey among 317 participants in China throughout May 2020, our analyses indicate that positive changes in social distancing behaviors are associated with increased risk perception, perceived understanding, and safety climate

Summary

Introduction

As the number of global coronavirus cases explodes rapidly, threatening millions of lives, the COVID-19 pandemic has become the fastest spreading, most extensive, and most challenging public health emergency worldwide since World War II [1]. This coronavirus appears to be more contagious and transmits much faster. R0 for seasonal influenza is approximately 1.28, while for COVID-19, this value comprises 3.3 on average [2,3,4]. With no efficacious treatments and vaccines available yet, social distancing measures are still one of the common approaches to reduce the rate of infection. For the foreseeable multiple waves of the pandemic, COVID-19 prevention will continue to rely on physical distancing behaviors until safe vaccines or effective pharmacological interventions become accessible. Social distancing has been implemented by authorities across the globe to prevent diffusion of the disease

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Discussion

Conclusion