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Predicting and comparing COVID-19 risk perceptions across the Netherlands and Belgium: A cross-sectional survey among university students
Vromans,Ruben Linn,Annemiek J Maru,Nirvi Pabian,Sara Krahmer,Emiel Guidry-Drost,Jeanine Perrin,Paul B. Bol,Nadine
Vromans,Ruben
Linn,Annemiek J
Maru,Nirvi
Pabian,Sara
Krahmer,Emiel
Guidry-Drost,Jeanine
Perrin,Paul B.
Bol,Nadine
Abstract
People’s risk perception of COVID-19 is an important predictor for adopting protective behavior. Although risk perceptions, and factors influencing these, may vary between countries, less attention has been paid to differences between adjacent regions from neighboring countries. In the midst of the first wave of the corona outbreak (March-April-May 2020), we measured risk perceptions as perceived threat (consisting of perceived severity and susceptibility) among university students (N = 668) in two connected countries: the Netherlands and Belgium. Theory-based predictor variables included experiential, efficacy-related, socio-cultural, cognitive, and demographic factors. While demographic variables and country were not significant predictors of perceived threat level, all other constructs were. Personal and indirect experiences with COVID-19, as well as higher scores on personal (self) efficacy to carry out recommended preventive behaviors were all associated with higher perceived threat. However, low collective efficacy and lower levels of trust in government were both also significantly associated with higher perceived threat, as was a low level of “lack of COVID-19 knowledge”. These results hold implications for suitable risk communication strategies for increasing students’ COVID-19 risk perceptions.
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Copyright: © 2023 Vromans et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Date
2023-02-02
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Vromans2023_PLOS.pdf
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Belgium/epidemiology, COVID-19/epidemiology, Cross-Sectional Studies, Humans, Netherlands/epidemiology, Students, Surveys and Questionnaires, Universities, SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being, SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Citation
Vromans, R, Linn, A J, Maru, N, Pabian, S, Krahmer, E, Guidry-Drost, J, Perrin, P B & Bol, N 2023, 'Predicting and comparing COVID-19 risk perceptions across the Netherlands and Belgium: A cross-sectional survey among university students', PLOS ONE, vol. 18, no. 2, e0277417, pp. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277417
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess