To promote equity for intersectionally disaster-vulnerable individuals and address three literature gaps: (1) incremental effects of collective and self-efficacy as preparedness predictors, (2) differentiation of fear and perceived severity of a disaster, and (3) clarification of the relationship between fear and preparedness.

Due to infection risks associated with communal housing, early in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, many universities permitted students to remain in campus housing only if they were housing insecure, including many international students. We surveyed intersectionally-vulnerable students and their partners at a southeast US university, N = 54, who were international (77.8%), Asian (55.6%), and/or housing insecure at baseline (79.6%). In 14 waves from May–October 2020, we assessed pandemic preparedness/response behaviors (PPRBs) and potential PPRB predictors.

We examined within- and between-person effects of fear, perceived severity, collective efficacy, and self-efficacy on PPRBs. Within-person perceived severity and collective efficacy both significantly, positively predicted greater PPRBs. All effects of fear and self-efficacy were not significant.

Perceived severity and confidence that one’s actions positively impact one’s community fluctuated throughout the pandemic and are linked to greater PPRB engagement. Public health messages and interventions to improve PPRB may benefit from emphasizing collective efficacy and accuracy over fear.

Perceived purpose in life (PIL) has been linked to a broad range of adverse physical, mental, and cognitive outcomes. However, limited research has examined factors associated with PIL that can be targeted in prevention and treatment efforts in aging populations at heightened risk of adverse outcomes. Using data from predominantly older US veterans, we sought to identify important correlates of PIL.

Cross-sectional data were analyzed from the 2019–2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, which surveyed a nationally representative sample of 4069 US military veterans (M age = 62.2). Elastic net and relative importance analyses were conducted to evaluate sociodemographic, military, health, and psychosocial variables that were strongly associated with PIL.

Of the 39 variables entered into an elastic net analysis, 10 were identified as significant correlates of PIL. In order of magnitude, these were resilience (18.7% relative variance explained [RVE]), optimism (12.1%), depressive symptoms (11.3%), community integration (10.7%), gratitude (10.2%), loneliness (9.8%), received social support (8.6%), conscientiousness (8.5%), openness to experience (5.4%), and intrinsic religiosity (4.7%).

Several modifiable psychosocial factors emerged as significant correlates of PIL in US military veterans. Interventions designed to target these factors may help increase PIL and mitigate risk for adverse health outcomes in this population.