The impacts of vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear on preventive behaviours against COVID-19

ABSTRACT

The world has been under the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic for the last few months. While people may take many preventive behaviours to minimize the risk, very little is known about the factors that can increase preventive behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined the effects of vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear on preventive behaviours of COVID-19.

The study used a sample of 4,536 Turkish adults (M = 30.33 ± 10.95 years) recruited from 17 March through 1 April 2020. Vulnerability, perceived risk, fear, and preventive behaviours were measured with self-rating scales.

Participants mostly engaged in avoidance of public transportation and frequent handwashing as preventive behaviours. Women had a significantly higher vulnerability to, perceived risk, and fear of new coronavirus compared to men. Correlation results indicated that age, gender, education level, vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear were related to preventive behaviours. Regression results demonstrated that vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear accounted for a significant amount of variance in preventive behaviours over and above the effects of demographic variables.

The results suggest that vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear can significantly increase engagement in preventive behaviours during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The results have important implications for research and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• perceived risk
• fear
• vulnerability
• preventive behaviours

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank all participants who involved in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.