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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Commun.
Sec. Health Communication
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1378557

Do COVID-19 Related Primary Emotions Affect Risk Perceptions, Efficacy Beliefs, and Information Seeking and Behavior? Examining Emotions as Audience Segments

Provisionally accepted
MONIQUE M. TURNER MONIQUE M. TURNER 1Jong In Lim Jong In Lim 1*Youjin Jang Youjin Jang 2Ruth J. Heo Ruth J. Heo 1Qijia Ye Qijia Ye 3Miyeon Kim Miyeon Kim 1Maria Lapinski Maria Lapinski 1Tai-Quan Peng Tai-Quan Peng 1
  • 1 Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, United States
  • 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
  • 3 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Primary emotions among populace about global health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic are informative. Guided by appraisal theories of emotions, this study explored emotional segmentations by mapping the primary emotions about the COVID-19 and investigating the impact of the emotions on cognitive and behavioral outcomes including risk perceptions, efficacy beliefs, behavioral intentions, prevention behaviors, and information seeking/avoidance. Study 1 investigated emotions about the COVID-19 among young adults (N = 1,368) and examined the effect of emotions on risk perceptions, efficacy beliefs, and behavioral intentions to practice mask wearing and physical distancing varied depending on their primary emotions.Study 2 replicated Study 1 and further tested the effect of primary emotions on preventive behaviors and information seeking/avoidance with a quota-based national sample of U.S. adults (N = 8,454). Results showed that most people experience negative emotions, such as sadness, anger, and anxiety, and showed various level of risk perceptions, efficacy beliefs, behavioral intentions and actual behavior, as well as information seeking/avoidance depending on what emotion one felt. Importantly, across both studies, anxious individuals showed more favorable health related perceptions and behavioral outcomes than angry ones reported. These findings provide insight into the emotional experiences of individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on risk perceptions and health-related behaviors.

    Keywords: appraisal tendencies framework (ATF), discrete emotions, Efficacy beliefs, information seeking, and prevention behaviors

    Received: 29 Jan 2024; Accepted: 26 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 TURNER, Lim, Jang, Heo, Ye, Kim, Lapinski and Peng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jong In Lim, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 48824, Michigan, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.