Do health concerns stemming from personality trait influence the choice of drinking water at home? An analysis of the survey results conducted in the Tokyo area under the COVID-19 pandemic

Many previous studies have already pointed out that health concerns influence people's choice of drinking water. The health concerns discussed in the preceding studies are those that are associated with the choice of a particular type of water. On the other hand, people also experience health concerns in their daily lives, unrelated to the choice of drinking water. These two need to be discussed separately, but preceding studies have failed to make a distinction. In this study, we refer to the former as ‘health concerns attributable to water characteristics’ and the latter as ‘health concerns stemming from personality traits.’ The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship, if any, between people's health concerns stemming from personality traits and their choice of drinking water. We use three types of health concerns that are stemming from personality traits (e.g. health maintenance, pesticide residues in food, and COVID-19 infection) to elucidate their influences on the choice of drinking water. Based on the results of the analysis, this study reveals that the influence of health concerns stemming from personality traits on the choice of drinking water differs depending on its typology. HIGHLIGHTS Concern about health maintenance urges the choice of untreated tap water.; Concern about pesticide residues in food urges the choice of purified tap water.; Concern about COVID-19 infection has no clear influences on the choice of drinking water.;