COVID-19 pandemic preventive behaviors and causal beliefs among Italian community dwelling adults

J Health Psychol. 2022 Mar;27(3):601-611. doi: 10.1177/1359105320962243. Epub 2020 Oct 13.

Abstract

In an online sample of 1054 Italian community-dwelling adults, we assessed the relationships between the frequency of implementation of practices intended to prevent COVID-19 infection, degree of agreement with theories about the origin of the infections, and the frequency of use of different sources of information concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. The results showed that participants' COVID-19-related preventive behaviors and causal beliefs were significantly associated with selected demographic variables and frequency of use of specific sources of information (e.g. scientific journals vs social media).

Keywords: COVID-19; Italian epidemic; causal beliefs; preventive behaviors; sources of information.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • Communicable Disease Control / methods*
  • Health Behavior*
  • Humans
  • Italy
  • Pandemics / prevention & control
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Surveys and Questionnaires