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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Life-Course Epidemiology and Social Inequalities in Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1484306
This article is part of the Research Topic Addressing Gender Inequality in Healthcare Leadership: A Path to Enhanced Patient Outcomes View all articles

Factors affecting risk perception of COVID-19: differences by age and gender

Provisionally accepted
Sungwook Kang Sungwook Kang 1Chang Hoon You Chang Hoon You 2Young Dae Kwon Young Dae Kwon 3*
  • 1 Daegu Haany University, Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang, Republic of Korea
  • 2 Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea
  • 3 Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

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

    Addressing emerging infectious diseases is a major task in public health. This study investigated the factors influencing the perception of risk related to COVID-19. This study analyzed data from the 2020 Social Survey conducted nationwide in South Korea, targeting 34,909 individuals aged 13 years and older. Using an ordered logit regression model, we examined the relationship between COVID-19 risk perception and its predictors across age groups (20-44 years, 45-64 years, 65 years and older) and gender groups. The predictors included in the analysis model were demographic factors, socioeconomic factors, health and quality of life factors, levels of social trust, and climate change factors. The results demonstrated that COVID-19 risk perception was higher among older individuals and women compared with men. In the young population group (20-44 years), mental stress was related to COVID-19 risk perception, but this was not observed in other population groups. In the elderly population group (65 years and older), education level was related to COVID-19 risk perception, whereas this was not observed in the young population group. In the male group, economic variables such as income and employment status were related to COVID-19 risk perception, whereas in women, family-related variables such as marital status and housing type were related. In most subgroup analyses, lower income levels or lower life satisfaction were associated with higher COVID-19 risk perception. The findings of this study suggest that health authorities need to tailor their responses to COVID-19 risk perception based on different populations and social groups. For the elderly population with a high-risk perception, it is necessary to provide reliable information to reduce anxiety caused by excessive risk perception.For the young population, proactive responses from health authorities regarding mental health are needed.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Risk Perception, Korea, gender differences, age differences

    Received: 27 Aug 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kang, You and Kwon. 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: Young Dae Kwon, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

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