Earthquake preparedness in female students: differential contributions of multidimensional seismic risk perception and psychological resilience

Introduction Earthquake preparedness is a multidimensional construct associated with seismic risk perceptions and individual psychological resources. This study examined the independent associations and incremental explanatory contributions of multidimensional seismic risk perception and psychological resilience to self-reported disaster preparedness. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 406 female psychology students aged 19–24 years ( M = 20.86, SD = 1.75). Psychological resilience was assessed using the Brief Resilience Scale, seismic risk perception using the Seismic Risk Perception Questionnaire, and disaster preparedness using a researcher-developed 20-item Disaster Preparedness Questionnaire (DPQ). Exploratory factor analysis examined the DPQ structure, while hierarchical regression and exploratory multivariate analyses assessed associations between the study variables. Results Exploratory factor analysis provided only partial support for the proposed five-domain DPQ structure. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that seismic risk perception dimensions explained an additional 23.8 percentage points of variance in overall preparedness after controlling for psychological resilience, whereas resilience explained an additional 3.3 percentage points after controlling for risk perception. The final model explained 27.9% of the variance. Earthquake phenomenon (β = 0.329), Hazard (β = 0.221), Vulnerability (β = 0.107), and psychological resilience (β = 0.183) showed statistically significant independent associations with preparedness. Exploratory multivariate analyses suggested differentiated associations across conceptually defined preparedness domains. Discussion Seismic risk perception and psychological resilience showed distinct statistical associations with self-reported disaster preparedness, highlighting the relevance of considering both risk-related appraisals and individual psychological resources. However, the cross-sectional design precludes causal inference, and the DPQ requires further psychometric validation.