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. 2021 Oct 30;18(21):11436.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111436.

Behavioral Correlates of COVID-19 Worry: Stigma, Knowledge, and News Source

Gabriella Y Meltzer  1 , Virginia W Chang  1   2 , Sarah A Lieff  1 , Margaux M Grivel  1 , Lawrence H Yang  1   3   4 , Don C Des Jarlais  3
Affiliations

Behavioral Correlates of COVID-19 Worry: Stigma, Knowledge, and News Source

Gabriella Y Meltzer et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Non-adherence to COVID-19 guidelines may be attributable to low levels of worry. This study assessed whether endorsing COVID-19-stigmatizing restrictions, COVID-19 knowledge, and preferred news source were associated with being 'very worried' versus 'not at all' or 'somewhat' worried about contracting COVID-19. Survey data were collected in July-August 2020 from N = 547 New York State (NYS) and N = 504 national Amazon MTurk workers. Respondents who endorsed COVID-19 stigmatizing restrictions (NYS OR 1.96; 95% CI 1.31, 2.92; national OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.06, 3.08) and consumed commercial news (NYS OR 1.89; 95% CI 1.21, 2.96; national OR 1.93; 95% CI 1.24, 3.00) were more likely to be very worried. National respondents who consumed The New York Times (OR 1.52; 95% CI 1.00, 2.29) were more likely to be very worried, while those with little knowledge (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.13, 0.43) were less likely to be very worried. NYS (OR 2.66; 95% CI 1.77, 4.00) and national (OR 3.17; 95% CI 1.95, 5.16) respondents with probable depression were also more likely to be very worried. These characteristics can help identify those requiring intervention to maximize perceived threat to COVID-19 and encourage uptake of protective behaviors while protecting psychological wellbeing.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Belief Model; depression; knowledge; news media; stigma; worry.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Adapted Health Belief Model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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