Sense of agency in the context of COVID-19 pandemic

To investigate the characteristic of sense of agency and its influencing mechanism in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, we measured sense of agency of Chinese people for three consecutive years (2020 ~ 2022). A total of 5342 valid questionnaires were collected. The results showed that COVID-19 risk perception and sense of agency are negatively correlated; The mediation role of perceived social support between COVID-19 risk perception and sense of agency is significant; The mediation role of general self-efficacy between COVID-19 risk perception and sense of agency is significant; The chain mediation effect of perceived social support and general self-efficacy between COVID-19 risk perception and sense of agency is significant. These findings demonstrate the significant role of intrinsic and extrinsic social factors in the sense of agency.