To contain the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate, health authorities have encouraged the population to enhance protective behaviors such as physical distancing and handwashing. Behavioral sciences emphasize the role of sociocognitive determinants to explain health behaviors, while largely ignoring emotional factors. In a large online study (N > 4000), we investigated the role of sociodemographic, cognitive, emotional, and social factors that can facilitate or hinder handwashing and limitation of social contacts. Data were collected from March 18 until April 19, 2020, which corresponds to the spring lockdown and the first peak of the pandemic in Belgium. Logistic regressions showed that sociodemographic factors (gender, age, level of education) and the dimensions of the Theory of Planned Behavior (intentions, attitudes, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms) had a strong impact on health behaviors, but that emotional factors explained an additional part of the variance. Being more attentive/determined and frightened/anxious, along with scoring higher on health anxiety were related to a higher frequency of handwashing. In contrast, being enthusiastic/happy was related to lower adherence to limiting social contacts. Our results suggest that the type of predictors and the direction of associations depend on the type of health behavior considered. The role of specific emotional factors in addition to more classical predictors is discussed. The study offers new perspectives regarding the factors that are associated with the adherence to behaviors recommended to adopt when faced with a pandemic.

中文翻译：

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SARS-CoV-2 爆发期间两种健康行为的社会人口、认知和情感决定因素：春季封锁期间比利时法语区应对者的在线研究。


为了控制 SARS-CoV-2 感染率，卫生当局鼓励人们加强防护行为，例如保持身体距离和洗手。行为科学强调社会认知决定因素在解释健康行为方面的作用，而很大程度上忽略了情感因素。在一项大型在线研究（N > 4000）中，我们调查了社会人口、认知、情感和社会因素的作用，这些因素可以促进或阻碍洗手和限制社交接触。数据收集时间为2020年3月18日至4月19日，这一时期恰逢比利时春季封锁和疫情的第一个高峰期。逻辑回归表明，社会人口因素（性别、年龄、教育水平）和计划行为理论的维度（意图、态度、感知行为控制和主观规范）对健康行为有很大影响，但情绪因素解释了健康行为的影响。方差的附加部分。更专心/更坚定、更害怕/焦虑以及健康焦虑得分更高都与更高的洗手频率有关。相比之下，热情/快乐与对限制社交接触的遵守程度较低有关。我们的结果表明，预测因素的类型和关联的方向取决于所考虑的健康行为的类型。除了更经典的预测因素之外，还讨论了特定情绪因素的作用。该研究提供了关于在面对大流行时与坚持建议采取的行为相关的因素的新观点。