Adherence to COVID-19 Protective Behaviors: A Matter of Cognition or Emotion?

Objectives: To compare the relative strengths of cognitive and emotional factors in explaining variance in adherence to recommendations for protective health behaviors against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Design: A longitudinal (4-month) study with 422 participants who completed an online survey assessing cognitive factors: perceptions of the severity of the disease, vulnerability to it, and the effectiveness of the protective behavior recommendations against it. The emotional factors investigated were: trait health anxiety, worries, and anxiety related to COVID-19. Results: Adherence and perceived behavior efficacy decreased over time, while perceived vulnerability and worries increased. Regression analyses showed a clear predictive advantage of beliefs about the efficacy of adherence to protective behaviors. Conclusions: The findings support the “cognitive approach” to explaining pandemic-related behaviors, particularly the key role of perceived efficacy of behavior recommendations.