https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1679-2474
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Abstract
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic motivated people to stay at home to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection and community transmission, but limited research has investigated the behavioral mechanisms underlying home quarantine.
Methods
Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study explored the mediating role of intention toward home quarantine and the moderating role of nationality among attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. A total of 827 college students from the United States and China were recruited to complete an online survey.
Results
The results of structural equation modeling showed that antecedents (ie, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) could predict actual home-quarantine behavior through the role of intention. Notably, the relation between both attitude and intention and perceived behavioral control and intention were moderated by nationality. Specifically, attitude was a stronger predictor of intention for American participants than for Chinese participants; however, perceived behavioral control was a stronger predictor of intention for Chinese participants.
Conclusion
These findings reveal the internal mechanism of home-quarantine behavior and the heterogeneous explanations attributed to cultural diversity during the pandemic, which not only expands the application of TPB but also provides a reference for infectious disease mitigation in the field of public health policy.
Abbreviations
TPB, theory of planned behavior; SN, home-quarantine subjective norm; PBC, home-quarantine perceived behavioral control; SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome.
Acknowledgments
We thank the teachers and students in the participating school for their support.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.