{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T16:35:33Z","timestamp":1792859733515,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,31]],"date-time":"2022-03-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1648684800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning of South Korea","award":["#2020090A72B - 00"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["#2020090A72B - 00"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Most studies on COVID-19 preventive behaviors have focused on single-level factors such as national policy, community social capital, or individuals\u2019 sociodemographic characteristics. Through a social-ecological model, this study attempts to comprehensively examine the multilevel factors associated with COVID-19 preventive practices in South Korea. Accordingly, a web survey involving 1,500 participants was conducted in December 2020. An ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to examine the multilevel factors (individual, interpersonal, community, and policy levels) related to COVID-19 preventive measures, which are based on wearing a mask, washing hands, covering the mouth when coughing or sneezing, and social distancing. When factors at each level were investigated, higher scores of COVID-19 fear and correct knowledge at the individual level, COVID-19 information share at the interpersonal level, and better evaluation of the national government policies in regard to COVID-19 at the policy level were positively associated with COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Community-level factors\u2014neighborhood perception and community participation\u2014were negatively significantly related to COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Additionally, older age, being female, and having a graduate-level education were positively related to better preventive behaviors. The findings of the current study suggest that multilevel efforts are needed to promote preventive behaviors. Specifically, more effort to alleviate COVID-19-related fear and disseminate correct knowledge among Korean citizens is needed as the individual-level characteristics explained the preventive behaviors more than the factors at upper levels.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0266264","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,31]],"date-time":"2022-03-31T18:02:31Z","timestamp":1648749751000},"page":"e0266264","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":29,"title":["Social-ecological factors related to preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2265-4753","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Sou Hyun","family":"Jang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,3,31]]},"reference":[{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0266264.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"756","DOI":"10.1038\/s41562-020-0909-7","article-title":"COVID-19 government response event dataset (CoronaNet v. 1.0)","volume":"4","author":"C Cheng","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat Hum Behav"},{"key":"pone.0266264.ref002","author":"WHO","journal-title":"Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Herd immunity, lockdowns and COVID-19"},{"key":"pone.0266264.ref003","volume-title":"How South Korea flattened the Curve","author":"M Fisher"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0266264.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1753464","DOI":"10.1080\/23288604.2020.1753464","article-title":"National response to COVID-19 in the Republic of Korea and lessons learned for other countries","volume":"6","author":"J Oh","year":"2020","journal-title":"Health Syst Reform"},{"key":"pone.0266264.ref005","first-page":"100111","article-title":"Testing on the move: South Korea\u2019s rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"5","author":"D Lee","year":"2020","journal-title":"Transp Res Interdiscip Perspect"},{"key":"pone.0266264.ref006","first-page":"10105395211014705","article-title":"The South Korean government\u2019s response to combat COVID-19 misinformation: Analysis of \u201cFact and Issue Check\u201d on the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website","volume":"6","author":"Y Song","year":"2021","journal-title":"Asia Pac J Public Health"},{"issue":"10228","key":"pone.0266264.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"931","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30567-5","article-title":"How will country-based mitigation measures influence the course of the COVID-19 epidemic?","volume":"21395","author":"RM Anderson","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"issue":"7\u20138","key":"pone.0266264.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"994","DOI":"10.1080\/13669877.2020.1758193","article-title":"Risk perceptions of COVID-19 around the world","volume":"23","author":"S Dryhurst","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Risk Res"},{"key":"pone.0266264.ref009","first-page":"1","article-title":"Knowledge, attitude and practice toward COVID-19 among the public in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study","volume":"8","author":"MK Al-Hanawi","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0266264.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0233668","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0233668","article-title":"Public knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: A cross-sectional study in Malaysia","volume":"15","author":"AA Azlan","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLos One"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0266264.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0239254","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0239254","article-title":"Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh: An online-based cross-sectional study","volume":"15","author":"MZ Ferdous","year":"2020","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"pone.0266264.ref012","first-page":"1","article-title":"The impacts of vulnerability, perceived risk, and fear on preventive behaviours against COVID-19","author":"M Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m","year":"2020","journal-title":"Pychol Health Med"},{"key":"pone.0266264.ref013","first-page":"45","article-title":"The effect of messaging and gender on intentions to wear a face covering to slow down COVID-19 transmission","volume":"4","author":"V Capraro","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy"},{"key":"pone.0266264.ref014","first-page":"10","article-title":"Don\u2019t get it or don\u2019t spread it? 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