The Prevention Behaviors and Impact Mechanisms Among Different Chinese Social Classes at the Early Stage of COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: Whether the pandemic can be effectively prevented and controlled depends on the entire population’s adherence to recommendations and preventive behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate the social class differences and internal mechanisms of prevention behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We conducted an online cross-sectional survey among the general Chinese population at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey website’s subscribers could access the questionnaire through the Tencent online platform, and a total of 1948 participants voluntarily completed it. Most of the participants were female (n = 1257, 64.528%), between the ages of 18–29 (n = 999, 51.284%), university graduates (n = 1015, 52.105%), and had an annual family income below 100,000 yuan (n = 1119, 57.444%). The differences in COVID-19 prevention behaviors among different social classes, the mediating role of infectious threat perception and the moderating role of perceived epidemic transparency were examined. RESULTS: 1) There were significant differences in prevention behaviors among different social classes. 2) The level of infectious threat perception played a mediating role in the relationship between social class and prevention behavior. When the individuals were from a lower social class, the level of threat perception and the level of COVID-19 prevention behaviors were also lower. 3) Perceived epidemic transparency played a moderating role in the relationship between social class and COVID-19 prevention behavior. It also played a moderating role in the relationship between social class and infectious threat perception. CONCLUSION: In the implementation of epidemic prevention and control measures, different social classes should be targeted and guided differently. In particular, lower-class individuals can be guided by improving the perceptions of epidemic transparency and infectious threat.