The Effects of Information-Seeking Behaviors on Risk Perception During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Correlational Survey

Figures & data

Table 1 Characteristics of Information-Seeking Behaviors

Characteristics	Classification	Scoring
Information- seeking channels	New media (computer/smartphone/tablet computer/others)	1 = No; 2 = Yes
	Traditional media (television/broadcast/newspaper)
	Local propaganda (community/village/street/others)
	Interpersonal communication (family members/friends/coworkers/neighbors/others)
Level of trust in information channels	New media (computer/smartphone/tablet computer/others)	1 = No credibility; 2 = Little credibility; 3 = Not sure; 4 = Credible; 5 = Strongly credible
	Traditional media (television/broadcast/newspaper/others)
	Local propaganda (community/village/street/others)
	Interpersonal communication (family members/friends/coworkers/neighbors/others)
Information content	Statistics of COVID-19 (infection cases/died cases/cured cases/others)	1 = No; 2 = Yes
	Knowledge of COVID-19 (pathogen/modes of transmission/susceptible populations/source of infection/others)
	Protective behavior (self-observation/washing hands/wearing masks/others)
	Rescue information (hospital building/public donations/others)
	Policy information (holiday extension/community lockdown/others)
	Personal related information (the epidemic situation in personal place of residence/infection information for passengers in one transportation facility/work suspended or resumed/others)
Proportion of negative information	Proportion of negative information in all COVID-19 information obtained	1 = None or a few; 2 = About half; 3 = Most or all
Frequency of information seeking	Frequency of daily COVID-19 information seeking behavior	1 = 0–3/d; 2 = 4–10/d; 3 = More than 10/d

Table 2 Independent Variables Assignment of Analysis on Influencing Factors of Risk Perception

Variables	Assignment
Gender	Male = 1; female = 2
Age group	18–35 = 1; 36–59 = 2; ≥60 = 3
Marital status	Single = 1; Married = 2;
Educational level	Junior middle school or below = 1; High school or polytechnic school = 2; Bachelor or college degree = 3; Master degree or above = 4
Occupational status	None = 1; Full/Part time = 1
Family annul income per capita (CNY)	<50,000 = 1; 50,000–100,000 = 2; 100,000–200,000 = 3; >200,000 = 4
Similar experience	None = 1; Yes = 2
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in place of residence	None = 1; Yes = 2
Exposure history in epidemic area of COVID-19	None = 1; Yes = 2
Information-seeking channels - New media; Traditional media; Local propaganda; Interpersonal communication	No = 1; Yes = 2
Level of trust in information channels - New media; Traditional media; Local propaganda; Interpersonal communication	No credibility = 1; Little credibility = 2; Not sure = 3; Credible = 4; Strongly credible = 5
Information content - Statistics of COVID-19; Knowledge of COVID-19; Protective behavior; Rescue information; Policy information; Personal related information	No = 1; Yes = 2
Proportion of negative information	None or a few = 1; About half = 2; Most or all = 3
Frequency of information seeking	1 = 0–3/d; 2 = 4–10/d; 3 = more than 10/d

Table 3 Sociodemographic Profiles and Univariate Analysis for Risk Perception (N=2611)

Items	Classification	n (%)	Scores on Risk Perception (M±SD)	t/F	P-value
Gender	Male	794 (29.26)	36.32±5.50	−1.034^a	0.301
	Female	1817 (69.59)	36.55±5.07
Age group	18–35y	1763 (67.52)	36.42±5.20	0.162^b	0.850
	36–59y	835 (31.98)	36.40±5.22
	>60y	13 (0.50)	36.31±4.85
Marital status	Single	1067 (40.87)	36.16±5.14	−2.632^a	0.009**
	Married	1544 (59.13)	36.70±5.24
Education level	Junior middle school or below	141 (5.41)	35.96±5.41	2.112^b	0.097
	High school or polytechnic school	264 (10.11)	36.95±5.72
	Bachelor or college degree	1832 (70.16)	36.55±5.12
	Master degree or above	374 (14.32)	36.05±5.11
Occupational status	None	715 (27.38)	36.67±5.07	1.163^a	0.245
	Full/Part time	1896 (72.62)	36.41±5.25
Family annul income per capita (CNY)	<50,000	700 (26.81)	36.28±5.32	1.297^b	0.274
	50,000–100,000	700 (26.81)	36.41±5.27
	100,000–200,000	766 (29.34)	36.49±5.16
	>200,000	445 (17.04)	36.89±4.96
Similar experience	Yes	656 (25.12)	36.41±5.27	−0.406^a	0.685
	No	1955 (74.88)	36.50±5.18
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in place of residence	Yes	317 (12.14)	37.12±5.04	2.325^a	0.020*
	No	2294 (87.86)	36.39±5.22
Exposure history in epidemic area	Yes	104 (3.98)	36.87±4.74	0.784^a	0.433
	No	2507 (96.02)	36.46±5.22

Note: *p<0.05 **p<0.01; ^aTwo-sample t-test; ^bOne-way analysis of variance.

Table 4 Participants’ Risk Perception for COVID-19 (N=2611)

Dimensions	Items	Average Score for Each Item	Average Score for Each Domain
Severe risk perception	Item 1 The pandemic is highly contagious	4.69±0.55	4.36±0.58
	Item 2 The pandemic is widespread	4.58±0.66
	Item 3 The health damage caused by the pandemic is fatal	3.84±1.05
Dread risk perception	Item 4 I am afraid of being infected	3.86±1.12	4.11±0.82
	Item 5 I am afraid the people I care about will be infected	4.20±0.94
	Item 6 The pandemic is terrible	4.26±0.82
Unknown risk perception	Item 7 Not enough is known about the pandemic	4.16±0.84	3.68±0.83
	Item 8 It is difficult to predict whether a person is infected or not	3.68±1.12
	Item 9 Infections that have occurred may not be accurately detected	3.22±1.18

Table 5 Data on the Characteristics of Different Information-Seeking Behavior (N=2611)

Characteristic	N	%
Information-seeking channel - New media	2094	80.2
Information-seeking channel - Traditional media	1748	66.95
Information-seeking channel - Local propaganda	717	27.46
Information-seeking channel - Interpersonal communication	570	21.83
Level of trust in information channel - New media (M±SD)	3.37±0.80
Level of trust in information channel - Traditional media (M±SD)	4.47±0.71
Level of trust in information channel - Local propaganda (M±SD)	3.85±0.88
Level of trust in information channel - Interpersonal communication (M±SD)	3.12±0.89
Information content - Statistics of COVID-19	2367	90.65
Information content - Knowledge of COVID-19	2151	82.38
Information content - Protective behavior	2143	82.08
Information content - Rescue information	1564	59.90
Information content - Policy information	1756	67.25
Information content - Personal related information	1805	69.13
Proportion of negative information
None or a few	1593	61.01
About half	684	26.2
Most or all	334	12.79
Frequency of information-seeking
0–3/d	793	30.37
4–10/d	1192	45.65
More than 10/d	626	23.98

Table 6 Correlation Between the Characteristics of Information-Seeking Behaviors and Risk Perception (N=2611)

Variables	Total Score of Risk Perception	Severe Risk Perception	Dread Risk Perception	Unknown Risk Perception
Information-seeking channel - New media	0.227**	0.101**	0.206**	0.196**
Information-seeking channel - Traditional media	−0.061**	−0.012	−0.044*	−0.092**
Information-seeking channel - Local propaganda	0.061**	0.085**	0.049*	0.018
Information-seeking channel - Interpersonal communication	0.077**	0.064**	0.052**	0.066**
Level of trust in information channel - New media	0.130**	0.126**	0.088**	0.097**
Level of trust in information channel - Traditional media	−0.071**	−0.078**	−0.056**	−0.146**
Level of trust in information channel - Local propaganda	0.069**	0.146**	0.063**	−0.020
Level of trust in information channel - Interpersonal communication	0.112**	0.149**	0.070**	0.059**
Information content - Statistics of COVID-19	0.064**	0.047*	0.062**	0.036
Information content - Knowledge of COVID-19	0.061**	0.045*	0.063**	0.035
Information content - Protective behavior	0.076**	0.083**	0.089**	0.013
Information content - Rescue information	0.058**	0.050*	0.062**	0.026
Information content - Policy information	0.069**	0.070**	0.066**	0.029
Information content - Personal related information	0.088**	0.087**	0.078**	0.046*
Proportion of negative information	0.096**	0.073**	0.087**	0.062**
Frequency of information-seeking	0.221**	0.052**	0.187**	0.241**

Note: *p<0.05 **p<0.01.

Table 7 Multivariate Linear Regression Analysis on the Risk Perception (N=2611)

Variables	Unstandardized Regression Coefficient	Standard Error	Standardized Regression Coefficient	t	P-value
Constant	32.989	1.002	-	32.908	0.000**
Information-seeking channel - New media	2.190	0.251	0.168	8.716	0.000**
Information-seeking channel - Traditional media	−0.957	0.209	−0.087	−4.586	0.000**
Level of trust in information channel - New media	0.537	0.134	0.082	4.011	0.000**
Level of trust in information channel - Traditional media	−0.709	0.155	−0.097	−4.567	0.000**
Level of trust in information channel - Local propaganda	0.551	0.132	0.093	4.171	0.000**
Information content - Protective behavior	0.655	0.264	0.048	2.477	0.013*
Information content - Personal related information	0.513	0.218	0.046	2.352	0.019*
Proportion of negative information	1.487	0.139	0.203	10.721	0.000**
Frequency of information- seeking	0.333	0.132	0.047	2.518	0.012*

Note: *p<0.05 **p<0.01; R²=0.137, F=42.387, p<0.001.