Risk perception as a motivational resource during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of vaccination status and emerging variants.

ABSTRACT:

Background

People's perceived risk of being infected and having severe illness was conceived as a motivational source of adherence to behavioral measures during the COVID-19 crisis.

Methods

We used online self-reported data, spanning 20 months of the COVID-19 crisis in Belgium (n = 221,791; 34.4% vaccinated; July 2020 - March 2022) to study the association between risk perception and motivation.

Results

Both perceived infection probability and severity fluctuated across time as a function of the characteristics of emerging variants, with unvaccinated persons perceiving decreasingly less risk compared to vaccinated ones. Perceived severity (and not perceived probability) was the most critical predictor of autonomous motivation for adherence to health-protective measure

SUBMITTER: Waterschoot J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10918917 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature