How risk communication impacts public psychology and behaviors during compound disasters: Data from flooding and COVID-19 disasters in China

Abstract

Prior studies have revealed that risk communication improves public psychology and behaviors during single disaster events. However, its effectiveness and mechanisms in compound disaster scenarios may differ due to compounded public risk perceptions and the reinforcement of negative emotions, which could lead to more unpredictable behaviors. This study surveyed a sample of victims (N = 379) who experienced both floods and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in Anhui Province, China. We applied the protective action decision model (PADM)to make assumptions and used a structural equation model to examine them. We found (1) that adequate risk communication could significantly improve victims’ anxiety and evacuation behavior in compound disaster scenarios, (2) that rumination (repeated thinking of previous disasters) played a mediating role between risk communication and anxiety and evacuation behavior, and (3) that compound disaster risk perception negatively moderated the effect of risk communication on rumination. This study identified a new emotional variable—rumination—in a compound disaster scenario that could improve the effect of risk communication on victims’ psychology and behaviors. However, the compound risk perceptions negatively moderated this effect. These findings reveal the complex mechanisms by which risk communication can impact victims' psychology and behaviors in compound disaster scenarios.