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Abstract
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, people in Qatar—similar to most countries globally—were
instructed by health authorities to adopt protective behaviors to avoid infection.
One of these behaviors is social distancing, which is influenced by diverse variables.
Using data from an online survey with 405 responses, this study performed multiple
regression analysis to explore effects of personality, risk perception, and personal
hygiene practices on social distancing among residents of Qatar. The results showed
that 87.3% of participants reported that they preferred to stay at home and not go
outside unless necessary, 60.3% said that they maintain an adequate distance when
communicating with others, 68.6% reported that they do not allow relatives and friends
to visit them at home, 73.5% believed that COVID-19 is a dangerous disease, and 95.8%
reported that they embrace personal hygiene practices and washing hands. Furthermore,
multiple regression analysis showed that conscientiousness, neuroticism, risk perception,
and personal hygiene practices predicted social distancing, with moderate effect sizes.
Gender differences were also found in social distancing practices, indicating that
women reported higher engagement in social distancing practices than men. These results
highlighted the importance of individual differences in reacting to the COVID-19 pandemic
and provide important information about the predictors of social distancing practices.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic emerged in Wuhan, China, spread nationwide and then onto half a dozen other countries between December 2019 and early 2020. The implementation of unprecedented strict quarantine measures in China has kept a large number of people in isolation and affected many aspects of people’s lives. It has also triggered a wide variety of psychological problems, such as panic disorder, anxiety and depression. This study is the first nationwide large-scale survey of psychological distress in the general population of China during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Background Since late April, 2009, a novel influenza virus A (H1N1), generally referred to as the “swine flu,” has spread around the globe and infected hundreds of thousands of people. During the first few days after the initial outbreak in Mexico, extensive media coverage together with a high degree of uncertainty about the transmissibility and mortality rate associated with the virus caused widespread concern in the population. The spread of an infectious disease can be strongly influenced by behavioral changes (e.g., social distancing) during the early phase of an epidemic, but data on risk perception and behavioral response to a novel virus is usually collected with a substantial delay or after an epidemic has run its course. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we report the results from an online survey that gathered data (n = 6,249) about risk perception of the Influenza A(H1N1) outbreak during the first few days of widespread media coverage (April 28 - May 5, 2009). We find that after an initially high level of concern, levels of anxiety waned along with the perception of the virus as an immediate threat. Overall, our data provide evidence that emotional status mediates behavioral response. Intriguingly, principal component analysis revealed strong clustering of anxiety about swine flu, bird flu and terrorism. All three of these threats receive a great deal of media attention and their fundamental uncertainty is likely to generate an inordinate amount of fear vis-a-vis their actual threat. Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest that respondents' behavior varies in predictable ways. Of particular interest, we find that affective variables, such as self-reported anxiety over the epidemic, mediate the likelihood that respondents will engage in protective behavior. Understanding how protective behavior such as social distancing varies and the specific factors that mediate it may help with the design of epidemic control strategies.
This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research
re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of
the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health
Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
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