Perceived COVID-19 risk exposure and adoption of preventive behaviors: Social media information consumption as a moderator

ABSTRACT

Increasing preventive behaviors is critical to mitigating the rapid spread of COVID-19, but this can be challenging as some people are reluctant to practice these behaviors. We explored the mediating role of threat appraisal in the link between perception of COVID-19 risk exposure and preventive behavior, and the moderating effect of COVID-19 information consumption through social media. We recruited 577 people in China to complete a survey. The results show that perception of COVID-19 risk exposure was positively associated with preventive behaviors and that threat appraisal partially mediated this relationship. Moreover, COVID-19 information consumption on social media moderated the mediating effect. These results provide theoretical and practical implications to increase individuals' preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Social Behavior & Personality an international journal is the property of Society for Personality Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)