Risk Tolerance and Changes in Coronavirus Disease (COVID) Related Health Behaviors: A Longitudinal Study

Objective: The present study examined behavioral responses during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the role of dispositional risk tolerance in the Australian context. 

Method: The study involved a six-wave longitudinal investigation with a nationally representative sample of Australians (N = 1,296). Dispositional risk tolerance was measured at Wave 1 and participants’ anxiety level and self-report implementation of 10 COVID actions was assessed in each wave. Autoregressive multinomial regression models were estimated to assess the unique contribution of risk tolerance to the longitudinal change of participants’ implementation of COVID actions. 

Results: The results revealed a high implementation rate for protective actions when Australia had a peak in the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently declined with the easing threat of the pandemic. Individuals’ dispositional risk tolerance significantly predicted transition to, and endorsement of, protective actions. Participants who had low risk tolerance were more likely to remain at the state of implementing COVID-19 measures than being in, or transitioning to, other states. 

Conclusions: The findings suggest that when encouraging protective actions, governments and public authorities should acknowledge variability in the community in responding to risk and consider measures in addition to risk messaging to encourage protective actions among individuals with a high level of risk tolerance.