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Introduction: Following behavioral recommendations is key to successful containment of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is important to identify causes and patterns of non-compliance in the population to further optimize risk and health communication.
Methods: A total of 157 participants [80% female; mean age = 27.82 years (SD = 11.01)] were surveyed regarding their intention to comply with behavioral recommendations issued by the German government. Latent class analysis examined patterns of compliance, and subsequent multinomial logistic regression models tested sociodemographic (age, gender, country of origin, level of education, region, and number of persons per household) and psychosocial (knowledge about preventive behaviors, risk perception, stigmatizing attitudes) predictors.
Results: Three latent classes were identified: high compliance (25%) with all recommendations; public compliance (51%), with high compliance regarding public but not personal behaviors; and low compliance (24%) with most recommendations. Compared to high compliance, low compliance was associated with male gender [relative risk ratio (RRR) = 0.08 (0.01; 0.85)], younger age [RRR = 0.72 (0.57; 0.93)], and lower public stigma [RRR = 0.21 (0.05; 0.88)]. Low compliers were also younger than public compliers [RRR = 0.76 (0.59; 0.98)].
Discussion: With 25% of the sample reporting full compliance, and 51% differing in terms of public and personal compliance, these findings challenge the sustainability of strict regulatory measures. Moreover, young males were most likely to express low compliance, stressing the need for selective health promotion efforts. Finally, the positive association between public stigma and compliance points to potential othering effects of stigma during a pandemic, but further longitudinal research is required to examine its impact on health and social processes throughout the pandemic.
Abstract
In crisis communication, warning messages are key to prevent or mitigate damage by informing the public about impending risks and hazards. The present study explored the influence of hazard type, trait anxiety, and warning message on different components of risk perception. A survey examined 614 German participants (18–96 years, M = 31.64, 63.0% female) using a pre–post comparison. Participants were randomly allocated to one of five hazards (severe weather, act of violence, breakdown of emergency number, discovery of a World War II bomb, or major fire) for which they received a warning message. Four components of risk perception (perceived severity, anticipatory worry, anticipated emotions, and perceived likelihood) were measured before and after the receipt. Also, trait anxiety was assessed. Analyses of covariance of risk perception were calculated, examining the effect of warning message, trait anxiety, and hazard type while controlling for age, gender, and previous hazard experience. Results showed main effects of hazard type and trait anxiety on every component of risk perception, except for perceived likelihood. The receipt of a warning message led to a significant decrease in anticipated negative emotions. However, changes across components of risk perception, as well as hazards, were inconsistent, as perceived severity decreased while perceived likelihood and anticipatory worry increased. In addition, three interactional effects were found (perceived severity × hazard type, perceived severity × trait anxiety, and anticipated emotions × hazard type). The findings point toward differences in the processing of warning messages yet underline the importance of hazard type, as well as characteristics of the recipient.
Introduction: To maintain a sufficient donor pool, deferred first-time donors (FTD) should be motivated to return for blood donation. This pilot study investigates how deferral affects momentary mood, satisfaction with the donation process, and subsequent return behavior to examine their potential for motivating (deferred) FTD. Methods: All of the subjects (n = 96) completed a first questionnaire (A1) before pre-donation assessment. Deferred FTD (n = 22) were asked to complete a second questionnaire (A2) immediately after deferral, while non-deferred FTD (n = 74) filled in the second questionnaire (A3) after blood donation. The impact of deferral, momentary mood, and satisfaction with the donation process on return behavior within 12 months was tested by calculating two path analyses, controlling for sex and age. Results: Mood (p < 0.001) and satisfaction with social aspects of the donation process (p = 0.01) were decreased after deferral. Deferred FTD were less likely than non-deferred FTD to return to the blood donation center within 12 months (60.8 vs. 36.4%; p = 0.043). However, path analyses revealed that deferral effects on mood and satisfaction were not connected to return behavior. Instead, age had a significant influence on return behavior (p < 0.05) such that, overall, non-returning FTD were older than returning FTD, regardless of their deferral status. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that mood and satisfaction with the donation process are directly affected by deferral but not clearly responsible for low return rates. It seems promising to embed these variables in established health behavior models in further studies to increase the return rates of deferred FTD.
BackgroundIn crisis communication, warning messages are key to informing and galvanizing the public to prevent or mitigate damage. Therefore, this study examines how risk appraisal and individual characteristics influence the intention to comply with behavioral recommendations of a warning message regarding three hazard types: the COVID-19 pandemic, violent acts, and severe weather.
MethodsA cross-sectional survey examined 403 German participants from 18 to 89 years (M = 29.24; 72% female). Participants were allocated to one of three hazard types (COVID-19 pandemic, violent acts, severe weather) and presented with warning messages that were previously issued via an official warning app. Four components of risk appraisal—perceived severity (PS), anticipated negative emotions (AE), anticipatory worry (AW), and risk perception (RP)—were assessed before and after presenting the warning message. Path models were calculated to predict the intention to comply with the warning message, controlling for age, gender, and previous hazard experience.
ResultsFor the COVID-19 pandemic, higher age (β = 0.18) predicted warning compliance (R2 = 0.05). AE (β = 0.20) predicted compliance in the case of violent acts (R2 = 0.09). For severe weather, PS (β = 0.28), age (β = 0.29), and female gender (β = 0.34) lead to higher compliance (R2 = 0.27). Changes across risk appraisal components were not consistent, as some facets decreased after the receipt of a warning message.
DiscussionRisk appraisal has shown a marginal yet differential influence on warning message compliance in different types of hazards. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of sociodemographic factors on compliance should be studied more intensively. Moreover, integrating intermediary variables, such as self-efficacy, is necessary.
Background
Self-reported time-use in relation to health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has been widely studied, yet less is known about the directionality of the association and how it compares across genders when controlling for sociodemographic confounders.
Methods
This study focused on the working population of the most recent waves (2013–2018) of the Core-Study of the German Socio-Economic Panel (N = 30,518, 46.70% female, M = 39.24 years). It examined the relationship between three time-use categories (contracted, committed, & leisure time) and HRQoL (self-rated health & life satisfaction) in men and women via multigroup fixed effects cross-lagged panel models. The models controlled for sociodemographic background (age, household income, number of children living in household, employment status, education, & marital status), which was associated with time-use and psychosocial health in previous research.
Results
Contracted time showed consistent positive relationships with HRQoL across genders while associations with the other types of time use differed significantly between men and women and across indicators of HRQoL.
Conclusions
The way we spend our time directly predicts our health perceptions, but in the same vein our health also predicts how we can spend our time. Contracted time in particular was associated with positive HRQoL, across genders, and beyond sociodemographic predictors, highlighting the important role of employment in health, for men and women alike. The impact of commitments beyond contracted time-use—like household chores and childcare—however, continues to affect mainly women, which ultimately reflects in poorer health outcomes.
Although disaster research has acknowledged the role of social media in crisis communication, the interplay of new (e.g., mobile apps) and traditional media (e.g., TV, radio) in public warnings has received less attention, particularly from the recipients’ perspective. Therefore, we examined sociodemographic and psychosocial correlates of different types of media use (i.e., traditional, new, mixed) for receiving public warning messages in a population survey (N = 613, 63% female; Mage = 31.56 years). More than two-thirds (68%) reported mixed media use, with 20% relying on new media and 12% on traditional media. Traditional media users were older and reported lower levels of education, while new media users were significantly younger and reported lower trust toward traditional media (i.e., TV). Migrants were more likely to use new but not mixed media. In sum, most participants utilized a mixture of traditional and new media for warning purposes, which has implications for crisis communication. Though, vulnerable populations (e.g., older and less educated participants) mainly rely on traditional media, stressing the need for continued support. Thus, it is paramount to increasingly use mixed methods designs and concurrently examine multiple channels to reflect real-world warning practices and generate ecologically valid results.
Introduction
Privacy concerns are an important barrier to adoption and continued use of digital technologies, particularly in the health sector. With the introduction of mobile health applications (mHealth apps), the construct of app information privacy concerns has received increased attention. However, few validated measures exist to capture said concerns in population samples, although they can help to improve public health efforts.
Methods
Using a cross-sectional survey of German adults (mean age = 35.62; 63.5% female), this study examined psychometric properties of the app information privacy concerns scale (AIPC). Analyses comprised confirmatory factor analysis, factorial validity (exploratory factor analysis), internal consistency, convergent validity (i.e., correlations with privacy victimhood, and app privacy concerns), and discriminant validity (i.e., daily app use, adoption intentions, and attitudes toward COVID-19 contact tracing app use).
Results
The analysis did not support the proposed three-factor structure of the AIPC (i.e., anxiety, personal attitude, and requirements). Instead, a four-factor model was preferable that differentiated requirements regarding disclosure policies, and personal control. In addition, factors mirroring anxiety and personal attitude were extracted, but shared a significant overlap. However, these factors showed good reliability, convergent and discriminant validity.
Discussion
The findings underline the role of app information privacy concerns as a significant barrier to mHealth app use. In this context, anxiety and personal attitudes seemed particularly relevant, which has implications for health communication. Moreover, the observed differentiation of external (disclosure) and internal (control) requirements aligns with health behavior change models and thus is a promising area for future research.
In recent years, online radicalization has received increasing attention from researchers and policymakers, for instance, by analyzing online communication of radical groups and linking it to individual and collective pathways of radicalization into violent extremism. But these efforts often focus on radical individuals or groups as senders of radicalizing messages, while empirical research on the recipient is scarce. To study the impact of radicalized online content on vulnerable individuals, this study compared cognitive and affective appraisal and visual processing (via eye tracking) of three political Internet memes (empowering a right-wing group, inciting violence against out-groups, and emphasizing unity among human beings) between a right-wing group and a control group. We examined associations between socio-political attitudes, appraisal ratings, and visual attention metrics (total dwell time, number of fixations). The results show that right-wing participants perceived in-group memes (empowerment, violence) more positively and messages of overarching similarities much more negatively than controls. In addition, right-wing participants and participants in the control group with a high support for violence directed their attention towards graphical cues of violence (e.g., weapons), differentness, and right-wing groups (e.g., runes), regardless of the overall message of the meme. These findings point to selective exposure effects and have implications for the design and distribution of de-radicalizing messages and counter narratives to optimize the efficacy of prevention of online radicalization.