Exploring the Linkages between Quality of Life, Risk Perception, and Preparedness Behavior: Comparative Insights from Taiwan, China and Kinki, Japan

Abstract Previous studies have found that the higher the level of quality of life (QoL) or well-being is, the more desirable behavior people may take, including disaster preparedness actions. However, other variables like socio-demographics and risk perception might have varying effects on both of them. Therefore, comparisons between socio-demographic groups might be of help to disentangle this complex mechanism, but no studies have investigated their relationships. This study revisited surveys in Taiwan, China and Kinki, Japan and took a simple QoL measurement as an indicator of well-being. Multi-group analysis provided the analysis of the relationships between QoL, trust in government, disaster experience (EX), disaster risk perception (RP), and preparedness behavior (PB) for each dataset and for each grouping, here, by gender and by marital status. As a result, among others, the effect of QoL on PB was only significant in the female group in Taiwan, while RP and EX differently affected PB in different gender groups in Kinki. Moreover, no significant differences were found between the marital status groups in the associations between QoL, RP, and PB in Taiwan. These results imply the importance of group-specific approaches in intervention measures. Considering and addressing the limitations of this study, such as a cross-sectional design and the omission of potential variables, future studies may further explore the associations in different groups or with new variables such as self-efficacy.