Influence of trust on two different risk perceptions as an affective and cognitive dimension during Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak in South Korea: serial cross-sectional surveys

Jang, Won Mo; Kim, Un-Na; Jang, Deok Hyun; Jung, Hyemin; Cho, Sanghyun; Eun, Sang Jun; Lee, Jin Yong

Third, we found that gender, age, perceived economic status, residential area, party identification correlated significantly with risk perception. According to multiple logistic regression analyses, being female was predisposed to greater risk perception at the affective risk perception, but not at the cognitive dimension. Previous studies that investigated risk perception by gender also showed that a lower risk perception was associated with the male gender. 3 28 37-39 Possible explanation for lower perception of risk by male are that male have more to gain from risky behaviors. 40 However, previous studies did not distinguish between the level of risk perception. Further research is needed to determine why the same female group showed differences in perceived risk for affective and cognitive levels. The older the respondents, the lower the perceived cognitive dimension, but the opposite occurred weakly at the affective risk perception. The correlation with age and affective risk perception was not significant in the most model (survey 1, survey 2, survey 3, survey 4 models). We found that the higher the age, the higher president's job approval rating. The effect of trust may lead to a reduction in the cognitive risk perception among older respondents. Further research is needed as to why the effect of trust in government had not been shown in the affective risk perception.