Three dimensions of COVID-19 risk perceptions and their socioeconomic correlates in the United States: A social media analysis

Social media analysis provides an alternate approach to monitoring and understanding risk perceptions regarding COVID-19 over time. Our current understandings of risk perceptions regarding COVID-19 do not disentangle the three dimensions of risk perceptions (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and negative emotion) as the pandemic has evolved. Data are also limited regarding the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on COVID-19-related risk perceptions over time. To address these knowledge gaps, we extracted tweets regarding COVID-19-related risk perceptions and developed indicators for the three dimensions of risk perceptions based on over 502 million geotagged tweets posted by over 4.9 million Twitter users from January 2020 to December 2021 in the United States. We examined correlations between risk perception indicator scores and county-level SDOH. The three dimensions of risk perceptions demonstrate different trajectories. Perceived severity maintained a high level throughout the study period. Perceived susceptibility and negative emotion peaked on March 11, 2020 (COVID-19 declared global pandemic by WHO) and then declined and remained stable at lower levels until increasing once again with the Omicron period. Relative frequency of tweet posts on risk perceptions did not closely follow epidemic trends of COVID-19 (cases, deaths). Users from socioeconomically vulnerable counties showed lower attention to perceived severity and susceptibility of COVID-19 than those from wealthier counties. Examining trends in tweets regarding the multiple dimensions of risk perceptions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic can help policymakers frame in-time, tailored, and appropriate responses to prevent viral spread and encourage preventive behavior uptake in the United States.     

Avoiding Covid-19 risk information in the United States: The role of attitudes,norms, affect,social dominance orientations,and perceived trustworthiness of scientists

This study seeks guidance from the planned risk information avoidance model to explore drivers of risk information avoidance in the context of COVID-19. Data were collected early during the pandemic. Among our most notable results is that participants who are more oriented toward social dominance and are more skeptical of scientists’ credibility have (1) more supportive attitudes toward risk information avoidance and (2) feel social pressure to avoid risk information. The findings of this study highlight how the role of skepticism in science and intergroup ideologies, such as social dominance, can have important implications for how people learn about health-related information, even in times of heightened crisis.     

COVID-19背景下基于IMB模型的中老年人在线健康信息搜寻行为影响机制研究

COVID-19对中老年人的健康造成了巨大冲击,疫情期间中老年人对于健康信息的需求及在线健康信息搜寻行为的频率显著增加。为探究COVID-19背景下,中老年人在线健康信息搜寻行为的内在机理和影响因素,本文基于信息-动机-行为技巧模型(IMB模型),选择COVID-19健康知识、自我感知老化、自我效能、感染人数、隔离程度和在线健康信息搜寻行为6个变量构建结构方程模型,通过收集到的350份有效问卷,进行了实证研究。研究结果表明,除了3条调节效应的假设不成立外,其余5条假设均成立。本研究为今后在突发公共卫生事件中解释中老年人的在线健康信息搜寻行为提供了依据。