Introduction
Aedes albopictus, also named Asian tiger mosquito, is a vector of three dangerous diseases: Chikungunya, Dengue, Zika virus (World Health Organization, 2017, 2018a, 2018b). Whereas in 2004, only Alpes-Maritimes departments was exposed to this mosquito, in 2019, 51 metropolitan departments are, whom Vendée in Pays de la Loire since 2015 (Solidarity and Health French Ministry, 2018).
Literature review
Two psycho-social theories impulse this subject: risk perception and coping strategies.
Risk perception theory tries to explain how lay people perceived risks even if they do not have all the information (Slovic, 1987). More precisely, risk perception is divided in two parts: perceived gravity (Fischhoff, Slovic, Lichtenstein, Read & Combs, 1978; Slovic, Fischhoff & Lichtenstein, 1980) and perceived vulnerability (Moser, 1998). In Aedes albopictus literature, risk perception is linked to perceived exposure (Cardoso, Bley, Vernazza-Licht & Raude, 2016; Raude et al., 2012) and to knowledge level (Castro et al., 2013).
This risk perception can lead to stress if lay people appraised that they do not have the resources to respond to the situation’s needs (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). In this case, people do coping strategies which are: “constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of the person” (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984, pp. 141). Coping strategies are generally separated in two categories: emotion-focused coping where people try to control their emotions and problem-focused coping where people make effective behavior. For Rogers (1975, 1985), a protective behavior is causedby five variables: risk perception (i.e., perceived gravity and vulnerability), feeling fear, perceived behavior’s efficacy and perceived exposure. Protective behavior’ predictors are well-established in Aedes albopictus literature especially perceived exposure (Cardoso et al., 2016; Raude et al., 2012) and feeling discomfort (Molho et al., 2018) contrary to emotion-focused coping.
Problematic and hypotheses
Aedes albopictus being an emerging risk for Vendée population, it is interesting to determine what the predictors of problem-focused (i.e. protective behavior) and emotion-focused (i.e. relativization) coping strategies are.
Conforming to literature, three hypotheses are formulated:
– Hypothesis 1: There are positive correlations between Aedes albopictus knowledge level, risk perception (i.e., perceived gravity and vulnerability) and perceived exposure to Aedes albopictus.
– Hypothesis 2: Coping strategies are explain by perceived exposure to Aedes albopictus and feeling discomfort because of mosquitoes.
– Hypothesis 3: Coping strategies are explain by Rogers’s (1975, 1985) model variables: risk perception (i.e., perceived gravity and vulnerability), feeling fear, perceived behavior’s efficacy and perceived exposure.
Methodology
This survey was conducted between June and September 2019. It includes 201 participants, among which were 139 females, living in Vendée and raging in age from 18-84 years old.
Discussion
Hypothesis 1 is partially validated. In the relationship between risk perception, knowledge and perceived exposure (Castro et al., 2013; Cardoso, Bley, Vernazza-Licht & Raude, 2016; Raude et al., 2012), only a link between perceived gravity and knowledge level was not find. Contrary to Castro et al. (2013), knowledge plays only a role on one risk perception’s facet.
Hypotheses 2 and 3 are also partially validated. Results underline that problem-focused coping’s predictors are risk perception (i.e. perceived gravity and vulnerability), feeling fear, perceived behavior’s efficacy (Rogers, 1975, 1985), perceived exposure and the discomfort linked to mosquitoes (Cardoso et al., 2013; Molho et al., 2018; Raude et al., 2012). However, predictors of emotion-focused coping are perceived gravity, feeling fear, perceived behavior efficacy and perceived self-efficacy. It is the first time that a survey underlines emotion-focused coping’s predictors.
These results are a first step to start effective preventive campaigns in order to develop behavior and to prevent relativization strategies.
Keywords : Aedes albopictus ; Risk perception ; Coping ; Emerging risk
Words I have learned :
Risk perception: perception des risques
Coping strategy: une stratégie de coping/de faire face; Emotion-focused coping : stratégie de coping dirigée vers les émotions; Problem-focused coping: stratégie de coping dirigée vers le problème
Lay people: les individus profanes/non-expert
Emerging risk: risque émergent
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