Emotional Responses to Bed Bug Encounters: Effects of Sex, Proximity, and Educational Intervention on Fear and Disgust Perceptions

This study investigated individuals' emotional responses to bed bugs and how these were influenced by sex, proximity, and educational intervention. Using a pre-post experimental design, participants (<i>n</i> = 157) completed emotional assessments before and after viewing an educational video about bed bugs. Contrary to our initial hypothesis that only fear and disgust would be observed, participants also exhibited high levels of anxiety and anger. Following the educational intervention, disgust, fear, and anger toward bed bugs increased significantly. Participants experienced greater disgust and fear when imagining encounters with bed bugs in closer proximity, with home infestations giving stronger responses than workplace scenarios. The educational video reduced disgust toward bed bugs in the home but increased fear of them in public spaces, potentially promoting vigilance that could limit bed bug spread. Females reported higher levels of disgust and fear than males across all proximity conditions, supporting evolutionary theories regarding sex-specific disgust sensitivity. The educational video successfully increased participants' knowledge about bed bugs while simultaneously shifting emotional responses from contamination-based disgust to threat-specific fear. These findings suggest that educational interventions can effectively modify emotional responses to bed bugs, potentially leading to more rational management behaviors by transforming vague anxiety into actionable awareness of specific threats.