Threat, coping and flood prevention - A meta-analysis

In order to understand flood preventive intentions and behaviors in individuals, the research literature of the last decades has turned to the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT; Rogers, 1975, 1983) as a prominent framework. Yet a meta-analytical synthesis of these research results is still missing. The present meta analysis combines correlation and regression coefficients reported from 35 single studies using 47 independent samples (N = 35,419). Data analysis shows that threat appraisal (r+ = 0.23) and coping appraisal (r+ = 0.30) are both significantly associated with flood preventive intentions/behaviors. Meta analytical structural equation modeling (MASEM) indicates that flood-related emotions and trust in public institutions qualify as additional predictors, whereas past flood experiences qualify only as an indirect predictor. Overall, the extended PMT model explains 15% of variance in flood preventive intentions/behaviors. In relation to the effect size (ES) variability, meta-analytical ANOVAs confirm a moderating impact of the dependent variable (intention vs. behavior), and of the date of publication (before or after 2012). Implications for future research are discussed. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.