Table 1. Factor loadings for health literacy and beliefs related to susceptibility to COVID-19 infection.
| Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 3 | Factor 4 | Factor 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ‘General ease of infection’, | |||||
| People with pre-existing (underlying) diseases are more likely to develop severe disease | 0.77 | −0.07 | 0.06 | −0.04 | 0.03 |
| Elderly people are more prone to severe illness | 0.73 | −0.06 | 0.03 | −0.01 | 0.04 |
| Infectious by droplets | 0.72 | −0.02 | −0.04 | −0.01 | −0.01 |
| Infectious when living with others in a confined space | 0.61 | 0.09 | 0.00 | 0.12 | −0.04 |
| Infectious where the three ‘densities’ overlap | 0.57 | −0.05 | −0.01 | 0.20 | −0.01 |
| Infectious in large groups and during long meals | 0.56 | −0.06 | −0.03 | 0.35 | −0.05 |
| Infectious by aerosols (infectious by airborne particles) | 0.51 | 0.23 | 0.01 | −0.14 | −0.01 |
| Infectious at home | 0.42 | 0.29 | 0.00 | −0.13 | 0.01 |
| Currently, the spread of infection is mainly at home | 0.40 | 0.16 | 0.14 | −0.22 | 0.16 |
| Smokers are more prone to severe illness | 0.39 | 0.14 | 0.08 | −0.01 | 0.05 |
| Infectious at schools and workplaces | 0.35 | 0.33 | −0.08 | 0.18 | −0.05 |
| ‘Extreme likelihood of infection’, | |||||
| Infectious by airborne transmission | 0.20 | 0.53 | −0.03 | −0.09 | −0.07 |
| Infectious by train | 0.12 | 0.53 | −0.12 | 0.13 | −0.09 |
| Transmitted from animals to humans | 0.13 | 0.37 | 0.03 | −0.08 | 0.03 |
| Elderly people are the ones spreading novel coronaviruses | −0.20 | 0.33 | 0.27 | 0.15 | −0.15 |
| Infectious by contact | 0.32 | 0.32 | 0.01 | 0.00 | −0.04 |
| Many infected people are passing it on to others | 0.17 | 0.30 | −0.05 | 0.15 | 0.10 |
| The novel coronavirus has a higher mortality rate than influenza | 0.02 | 0.28 | −0.14 | 0.04 | 0.11 |
| I have heard rumours of clusters in stores I know, etc. | −0.16 | 0.26 | 0.10 | 0.08 | 0.02 |
| Elderly people are more likely to be infected with novel coronaviruses | 0.15 | 0.20 | 0.15 | 0.11 | 0.05 |
| ‘Low perception of infection threat’, | |||||
| The current probability of death from infection with the new coronavirus in Japan is very low, about 1/10 million. | 0.14 | −0.08 | 0.64 | 0.04 | −0.08 |
| The probability of ordinary Japanese being infected is less than 0.1 | 0.13 | −0.13 | 0.64 | 0.03 | −0.05 |
| When we see celebrities who have been infected with the new coronavirus appearing on TV again, it is not so serious even if we are infected | −0.11 | 0.11 | 0.55 | −0.01 | −0.03 |
| Once infected, new coronaviruses do not cause re-infection | −0.30 | 0.14 | 0.40 | 0.05 | 0.02 |
| Young people are at low risk of serious illness | 0.35 | −0.18 | 0.37 | 0.02 | 0.12 |
| Human-to-human transmission is possible within a week of onset of illness | 0.04 | 0.12 | 0.30 | 0.03 | 0.11 |
| ‘Ease of infection at dinners and parties’, | |||||
| Infections occur during nightlife (bars, clubs, host clubs, etc.) | 0.26 | −0.06 | 0.02 | 0.65 | −0.01 |
| People who work in the nightlife business are more susceptible to the new coronavirus | 0.02 | 0.08 | 0.10 | 0.56 | 0.07 |
| Infections can occur at karaoke parlors and bars where karaoke is available | 0.36 | −0.02 | −0.03 | 0.53 | −0.01 |
| Become infected in restaurants | 0.25 | 0.13 | −0.03 | 0.49 | −0.06 |
| Become infected at social gatherings where alcohol is consumed | 0.42 | −0.03 | −0.03 | 0.47 | −0.04 |
| People in the show business are more likely to be infected with the new coronavirus | −0.23 | 0.22 | 0.13 | 0.34 | 0.16 |
| ‘Ease of infection among young people’, | |||||
| Young people in their 20s and 30s are spreading the novel coronavirus | 0.01 | −0.04 | −0.08 | 0.11 | 0.76 |
| The number of infected people in their 20s is the highest | 0.06 | −0.01 | −0.02 | −0.02 | 0.64 |
| University students are most likely to cause clusters | −0.02 | 0.17 | 0.00 | 0.32 | 0.32 |
| Inner-factor correlation F1 | — | 0.35 | −0.15 | 0.60 | 0.39 |
| F2 | — | 0.05 | 0.55 | 0.40 | |
| F3 | — | −0.02 | 0.29 | ||
| F4 | — | 0.47 | |||
| F5 | — |
Notes.
*
Factor loadings with an absolute value of 0.3 or higher are shown in bold. Items with the highest factor loadings were sorted. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy = 0.95.