Volume 26, Issue 125, July 2022

Parents’ risk perception in the predictive association between personal fable and sensation seeking with adolescents’ pandemic related preventive behaviors during covid 19: A moderated mediation approach

Parastoo Naeimijoo¹, Ahmad Yousefi¹, Abbas Masjedi Arani^2♦, Maryam Bakhtiyari², Mahdi Jafari³

¹Student Research Committee, (Department of Clinical Psychology, school of medicine), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
²Associate professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, school of medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
³Department of Clinical Psychology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

^♦Corresponding author
Associate professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, school of medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

ABSTRACT

Objective: Amid the barriers created by Covid-19 and the enforced strict governments’ containments measures, adolescents were negatively impacted more than any other age group. Adolescents are known to display a pivotal role in spreading the virus because of their low conformity. To find the contributing and mediating factors associated with teens’ extensive non-compliance, this study focuses on the mechanisms of adopting preventive behaviors. Method: This cross-sectional study was administered online using convenience sampling over four weeks during severe lockdown 4th peak outbreak period. Data were gathered online from 422 adolescents with an average age of 15.48 years (SD=2.74) and their parents. Analysis of data was done by PROCESS macro for SPSS version 25. Results: Personal fable and sensation seeking were predictive of rule-disrespecting in adolescents of both genders. Mediation modeling demonstrated that parents’ risk perception partially mediated the predictive relationship between personal fable and sensation seeking with pandemic preventive behaviors in girls (personal fable: [B = -0.034, 95% CI = (-0.076, -0.005)]; sensation seeking [B = -0.047, 95% CI = (-0.102, -0.008)]). Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of some peculiar characteristics of this developmental stage in explaining adherence to pandemic-related preventative behaviors. It seems that teen boys are more vulnerable in pandemic time frames regarding their inattention to parents’ recommendations.

Keywords: Covid-19; Personal Fable; Sensation Seeking; risk perception; Pandemic-Related Preventative Behaviors; Adolescent.

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms303e2030

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i125/ms303e2030

Published: 26 July 2022