Taking the Bite out of Mosquito Bites: The Role of Perceived Risk

ABSTRACT

The present study examined how dimensions of perceived risk contributed to mosquito avoidance behaviors in a flood-prone area. Mosquito avoidance behaviors were classified into proactive (i.e. used repellant sources) and withdrawal/reactive (i.e. reduced outside activities) behaviors. After controlling for level of mosquito bites, increased scores for above normal perceived risk were associated with withdrawal/reactive avoidance behaviors; whereas, increased scores for normal perceived risk were associated with proactive avoidance behaviors. Efforts to improve mosquito avoidance behaviors should distinguish the type of perceived risk and the type of avoidance behavior. Greater congruence between perceived risk (i.e. normal risk of mosquito-borne illnesses) and avoidance behaviors (i.e. planning avoidance behaviors) will increase the effectiveness of education programs for disease prevention.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental health education
• risk
• rural
• West Nile Virus

Acknowledgements

“The authors acknowledge the contributions of J. Byrd, K.J. Lane, and C. Wise from Egyptian Health; and J. Remo from Geography and Environmental Sciences, SIU.”

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NSF Robert Noyce Master Teacher Fellowship program [(DUE 1136414)].