DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qz612jmjb
title: The effect of perceived crowding on risk perception in leisure sports: Based on Edward T. Hall’s concept of “proxemics”

description: This study aims to identify how we can prevent the spread of infectious
 diseases and examines the social distancing required for participants in
 leisure sports activities to safely enjoy these activities. Based on
 crowdedness and risk perception in spaces perceived by people today, the
 above is investigated in terms of distance in Edward T. Hall’s concept of
 proxemics. The study subjects are people aged 20–65 who used spaces for
 leisure sports during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea. An online
 survey was conducted from September 20 to October 20, 2021, and data from
 a total of 391 participants were used for the final analysis. Measures of
 perceived crowding, risk perception, and Edward T. Hall’s proxemics were
 used as the tools after modifying and validating them. The results showed
 that perceived crowding according to space for leisure sports activities
 during the COVID-19 pandemic affected individual risk perception in indoor
 leisure sports and social risk perception in outdoor leisure activities.
 Perceived crowding according to proxemics influenced personal, social, and
 public distance in individual risk perception and public and social
 distance in social risk perception. Therefore, it is necessary to
 re-examine the scope of social distance in perceiving risk perception and
 reducing the crowdedness of participants in leisure sports activities to
 prevent the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19. Moreover,
 individuals must make efforts to maintain a minimum distance from others.
 Further, media education and warning messages must be disseminated to
 prevent infection and reduce crowding.
description: The participants in this study were
 males aged 20–65 who used a space for leisure sports during the COVID-19
 pandemic in South Korea. According to Scully et al. (1977), biological sex
 impacts immune responses and COVID-19 outcomes. Men are more vulnerable to
 COVID-19 than women due to the difference in immunity between the two.
 Therefore, we focused on men. Using the convenience sampling method, a
 sample of 400 participants that used a space for leisure sports were
 contacted through an online survey. A questionnaire was distributed to the
 participants of leisure sports for them to fill out in a self-reported
 method and the analysis was conducted on 391 participants (9 participants
 who provided unreliable data due to redundant or non-responses were
 excluded out of the 400 participants).
description: The collected data was analyzed through
 coding and data cleaning followed by statistical analysis using SPSS (Ver
 26.0). The specific data analysis method is as follows. First, descriptive
 analysis and frequency analysis was conducted to identify participants’
 individual characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to
 validate the items of perceived crowding in the space for space activities
 as well as risk perception. Cronbach's α coefficients were calculated
 to verify the internal consistency among items and test the reliability.
 Moreover, correlation analysis and multiple-regression analysis were
 conducted to analyze the impact of perceived crowding on risk perception.
 All items were tested at the statistical significance level of
 α=.05.