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BackgroundCOVID-19 preventive perceptions and behaviors, especially among US millennials, are an important means by which the pandemic can be slowed and negative health outcomes can be averted. ObjectiveThis manuscript aims to advance knowledge on COVID-19 preventive perceptions and behaviors and their main predictors, including digital health information–seeking behavior (HISB), political party identification, and COVID-19 testing status. MethodsTwo cross-sectional online surveys of US millennials were conducted from April 10 to 14, 2020 (N=274) (ie, Study 1), and from April 27 to May 7, 2020 (N=1037) (ie, Study 2). In the regression models, dependent variables included preventive behaviors (eg, wearing a face mask and social distancing) as well as four preventive perceptions: severity (ie, a person’s conception of the seriousness of COVID-19), susceptibility (ie, a person’s conception of the likelihood of being infected with COVID-19), self-efficacy (ie, a person’s perception that he or she can wear a face mask and perform social distancing to prevent COVID-19 infection), and response efficacy (ie, a person’s perception of whether wearing a face mask and social distancing can prevent COVID-19 infection). Key independent variables included digital HISB for self, digital HISB for another person, political party identification, and COVID-19 testing status. ResultsMillennials reported lower levels of perceived susceptibility than the other three preventive perceptions (ie, severity, self-efficacy, and response efficacy), as well as fairly high levels of preventive behaviors. Unlike HISB for another person, digital HISB for self was positively associated with preventive perceptions and behaviors. In Study 1, respondents with higher levels of digital HISB for self had significantly higher perceptions of severity (β=.22, P |
