Identifying modifiable correlates of older adults’ preventive behaviors is contributable to
the prevention of the COVID-19 and future pandemics. This study aimed to examine the associations
of social-cognitive factors (motivational and volitional factors) with three preventive behaviors
(hand washing, facemask wearing, and physical distancing) in a mixed sample of older adults
from China and Germany and to evaluate the moderating effects of countries. A total of 578 older
adults (356 Chinese and 222 German) completed the online cross-sectional study. The questionnaire
included demographics, three preventive behaviors before and during the pandemic, motivational
factors (health knowledge, attitude, subjective norm, risk perception, motivational self-efficacy (MSE),
intention), and volitional factors (volitional self-efficacy (VSE), planning, and self-monitoring) of
preventive behaviors. Results showed that most social-cognitive factors were associated with three
behaviors with small-to-moderate effect sizes (f 2 = 0.02 to 0.17), controlled for demographics and past
behaviors. Country moderated five associations, including VSE and hand washing, self-monitoring
and facemask wearing, MSE and physical distancing, VSE and physical distancing, and planning and
physical distancing. Findings underline the generic importance of modifiable factors and give new
insights to future intervention and policymaking. Country-related mechanisms should be considered
when aiming to learn from other countries about the promotion of preventive behaviors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:87293 |
| Date | 06 October 2023 |
| Creators | Duan, Yanping, Lippke, Sonia, Liang, Wei, Shang, Borui, Keller, Franziska Maria, Wagner, Petra, Baker, Julien Steven, He, Jiali |
| Publisher | MDPI |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 6364, 10.3390/ijerph19116364 |
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