Regional Characteristics of risk perception among young military personnel in early stage of COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

Objective To analyze the characteristics of risk perception of military personnel in different areas during the early stage of COVID-19 outbreak. Methods We conducted an online survey of risk perception using Risk Cognitive Questionnaire (RCQ) among 4 526 young (18 to 35 years of age) military officers and soldiers serving in 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions or municipalities between January 26th to February 4th, 2020. The difference in risk perception was analyzed among the individuals from different geographic regions with varying epidemic risks (grades C1~C5 according to the cumulative number of confirmed cases in each province and city) and distances from the risk area (grades D1~D5 according to the straight distance to Wuhan). Results The factor scores of RCQ varied significantly among the military personnel serving in regions with different grades of epidemic risk (F=22.399, P < 0.001). With the reduction of the grade of epidemic risk, the changes in RCQ scores of the surveyed participants presented with an inverted N-shaped curve (P < 0.01). The RCQ scores also varied significantly with the distance from the risk areas (F=15.729, P < 0.01), and as the distance from the risk area increased, the RCQ scores of the participants showed a gradual downward trend (P < 0.05). Gender, age, education and marital status all significantly affected RCQ scores of the participants in different areas (P < 0.01 or 0.05). Conclusion In the early stage of COVID-19 outbreak, the level of risk perception among young military personnel is decreased gradually with the decrease of the grade of local risk and the increase of distance from the epicenter of the outbreak.

Keywords

• covid-19
• young military personnel
• risk perception
• regional characteristics