Information seeking, personal experiences, and their association with COVID-19 risk perceptions: demographic and occupational inequalities

Brown, Richard, Coventry, Lynne and Pepper, Gillian (2021) Information seeking, personal experiences, and their association with COVID-19 risk perceptions: demographic and occupational inequalities. Journal of Risk Research, 24 (3-4). pp. 506-520. ISSN 1366-9877

[img]
Preview
Text
MANUSCRIPT - COVID 19 Perceptions and Information Seeking BROWN COVENTRY AND PEPPER 2021.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (523kB) | Preview
[img]
Preview
Text
COVID-19 risk perceptions and their associations with related media consumption and personal experiences - preprint 30.07.2020.pdf - Submitted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (955kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2021.1908403

Abstract

The impacts of COVID-19 are not evenly distributed in society. Understanding demographic and occupational differences in personal experiences and information seeking and how these shape perceptions of COVID-19 related risk may help to improve the effectiveness of public health strategies in the future. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 496 participants during the first UK lockdown, in May 2020. We recorded data to assess people’s experiences of the pandemic, examining how they varied with demographic factors such as age, gender, occupational status, and key worker status. We also recorded data on COVID-19 related information seeking, and how experiences and information seeking behaviours were related to perceptions of COVID-19 related risk. We found that key workers reported greater exposure to COVID-19 and more extensive experience of the virus within their social circles. Those key workers who perceived their personal protective equipment to be more effective felt that the virus was less of a threat to their lives. Trust in COVID-19 information was highest in information from the UK Government and NHS, and lowest in information from social media. We also found that men reported lower levels of perceived threat to life from the virus than women – a difference that mirrors the gender difference in occupational risk within our sample. Among those in employment, lower occupational class was also associated with higher levels of perceived risk of infection and perceived threat to life. Key workers who feel that they are insufficiently protected by their PPE experience increased levels of perceived threat, which may lead to negative health behaviours. This highlights the need for employers to ensure that key workers feel they are adequately protected from COVID-19. Our findings highlight some of the inequalities in the distribution of risk across society and discuss demographic differences in perceptions of risk.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Risk perceptions; Mortality risk; COVID-19; Information seeking; Key workers.
Subjects: B900 Others in Subjects allied to Medicine
C800 Psychology
P300 Media studies
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Related URLs:
Depositing User: John Coen
Date Deposited: 16 Feb 2021 11:28
Last Modified: 18 Nov 2022 08:00
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/45440

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics