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

Overall risk perception of the four surveys at affective proportion (53.8%) was nearly two times higher than at cognitive dimension (30.3%). Affective risk perception proportions were always higher than cognitive dimension during the present study periods. Of the affective risk perception, proportion was initially high during survey 1 (55.0%), rose during survey 2 (62.8%), and declined again during surveys 3 and 4 (52.2% and 44.9%, respectively). A similar trend was observed in the cognitive risk perception proportions. The percentages of respondents who reported as being "worried" or "spread further" decreased gradually after survey 2. Cognitive risk perception proportions decreased more rapidly than affective aspect, over time, from 52.6% and 62.8% in survey 2 to 9.0% and 44.9% in survey 4, respectively. At the beginning of the occurrences of tertiary and quaternary cases, we identified high perceived risk in both the affective and cognitive aspects proportions. Table 3 shows the association between variables and risk perception of MERS-CoV at the affective dimension. The result showed that gender, age, educational attainment, self-reported economic status, area, presidential job approval rating, and party identification were significantly associated with affective risk perception. Women (adjusted OR [aOR] 1.72-2.00; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.14-2.86) were more likely to perceive MERS-CoV risk at affective dimension, which decreased with time, and subsequently increased again. Groups of older than 40 years were less aware of the risk (aOR 0.58-0.76; 95% CI 0.28-1.56) in survey 1; however, they perceived the risk more over time (aOR 2.84-3.29; 95% CI 1.27-6.66) in survey 4. The association of education with affective risk perception was non-significant except university degree in the overall survey (aOR 0.73; 95% CI 0.55-0.96). Lower economic status and those living in metropolitan cities paid more attention to the affective risk of MERS-CoV in the overall model. Those who disapproved of the president and the ruling party had higher risk perception at the affective dimension; the peak of disapproval was found in survey 1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59