The driving effect of experience: How perceived frequency of floods and feeling of loss of control are linked to household-level adaptation
Lisa Köhler, Sungju Han
Abstract
This study examines how perceived and remembered flood experiences, measured as frequent flood experience (FFE) and loss of control experience (LCE) during the last flood, are related to individual protection motivation. Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) builds the theoretical basis of this study, describing protection motivation as a result of threat and coping appraisals. To evaluate the relationship between flood experience and protective behavior, we applied structural equation modeling using survey data from 2020 conducted in Saxony, Germany (n = 1,884). Four main conclusions can be drawn: first, both applied measures of experience, FFE and LCE, are positively associated with threat appraisal, leading to a positive link to protection motivation. Second, FFE and LCE negatively relate to coping appraisal, culminating in an overall negative relationship with protection motivation. Third, FFE has a stronger direct link to protection motivation, and LCE has a stronger indirect link via threat and coping appraisals. Fourth, the relationship between LCE and threat appraisals decreases over time, while the relationship between FFE and threat appraisals does not diminish. The study underscores the importance of considering individual flood experience to understand protective behavior in the context of increasing flood frequencies. Moreover, including affective measures of experience, such as LCE, can improve our understanding of why some flood-prone people undertake protective measures whereas others do not.