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Understanding Fear of Zika: Personal, Interpersonal, and Media Influences

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  • Chun Yang
  • James Price Dillard
  • Ruobing Li

Abstract

Fear of infectious disease often motivates people to protect themselves. But, it can also produce negative bio‐social‐psychological effects whose severity is on par with those of the disease. The WHO declaration of Zika as a world health crisis presented an opportunity to study factors that bring about fear. Beginning nine days after the WHO announcement, data were gathered from women aged 18–35 living in the southern United States (N = 719). Respondents reported experiencing fear of Zika at levels akin to those reported following other significant crises/disasters (e.g., the terrorist attacks of 9/11). Fear increased as a function of (1) personal, but not other‐relevance, (2) frequency of media exposure, but not media content, and (3) frequency of interpersonal exposure and interpersonal content. It is argued that media and interpersonal message sources may be innately predisposed to amplify, rather than attenuate, risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Chun Yang & James Price Dillard & Ruobing Li, 2018. "Understanding Fear of Zika: Personal, Interpersonal, and Media Influences," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(12), pages 2535-2545, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:38:y:2018:i:12:p:2535-2545
    DOI: 10.1111/risa.12973
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Jacques Bughin & Michele Cincera & Dorota Reykowska & Rafal Ohme, 2021. "Big data is decision science: The case of COVID-19 vaccination," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/342494, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Adi Alsyouf & Abdalwali Lutfi & Mohammad Al-Bsheish & Mu’taman Jarrar & Khalid Al-Mugheed & Mohammed Amin Almaiah & Fahad Nasser Alhazmi & Ra’ed Masa’deh & Rami J. Anshasi & Abdallah Ashour, 2022. "Exposure Detection Applications Acceptance: The Case of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-26, June.
    4. Branden B. Johnson, 2019. "Americans’ Views of Voluntary Protective Actions Against Zika Infection: Conceptual and Measurement Issues," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(12), pages 2694-2717, December.
    5. Huiyun Zhu & Kecheng Liu, 2021. "Capturing the Interplay between Risk Perception and Social Media Posting to Support Risk Response and Decision Making," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-14, May.
    6. Hongjie (Thomas) Zhang & Jen Sern Tham & Moniza Waheed, 2022. "The Effects of Receiving and Expressing Health Information on Social Media during the COVID-19 Infodemic: An Online Survey among Malaysians," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-16, June.

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