PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

Risk perception of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its related factors among college students in China during quarantine.

  • Yani Ding,
  • Xueying Du,
  • Qinmei Li,
  • Miao Zhang,
  • Qingjun Zhang,
  • Xiaodong Tan,
  • Qing Liu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237626
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 8
p. e0237626

Abstract

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ObjectiveAt the end of 2019, the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan was a serious threat to public health. This study aimed to evaluate the risk perception of COVID-19 among college students in China during the quarantine, explore its related factors, and provide reference for future study.MethodsThis study invited college students from various provinces of China to participate in the survey through the Internet, and a total of 1,461 college students were included. T-test and analysis of variance were used to explore the relationship between demographic characteristics, social pressure, knowledge and risk perception. Multiple linear regression was used to identify factors associated with risk perception.ResultsThis study shows that college students in China have high risk perception of COVID-19. Female college students (pConclusionDue to the strong infectivity and occult nature of COVID-19, it is necessary to improve the risk perception of college students through health education in various ways, and attention should be paid to some college students with low risk perception.