AUTHOR=Wolff Katharina , Larsen Svein 

TITLE=Pre- and post-pandemic risk perceptions and worries

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1412252

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1412252

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>The present study is a cross-sectional investigation of worry and risk perceptions regarding various hazards and destinations, measured before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Questionnaire data were collected from tourists in Norway during the summer seasons of 2012 (<italic>N</italic> = 2,669), 2019 (<italic>N</italic> = 1,666), and 2022 (<italic>N</italic> = 956), and from a representative sample of Norwegians in 2020 (<italic>N</italic> = 1,003).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The results show a general decline in the level of worry and risk perceptions post-pandemic compared to those pre-pandemic, with the exception of infectious diseases, whose perceived risk slightly increased in 2022.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>The results highlight the importance of employing cross-sectional or longitudinal data to investigate changes in risk perceptions over time. The findings also indicate that pessimistic predictions of a continued decline in tourism appear to be unwarranted.</p></sec>