Trust in government moderates the association between fear of COVID-19 as well as empathic concern and preventive behaviour.

Karakulak A, Tepe B, Dimitrova R, Abdelrahman M, Akaliyski P, Alaseel R, Alkamali YA, Amin A, Lizarzaburu Aguinaga DA, Andres A, Aruta JJBR, Assiotis M, Avanesyan H, Ayub N, Bacikova-Sleskova M, Baikanova R, Bakkar B, Bartoluci S, Benitez D, Bodnar I, Bolatov A, Borchet J, Bosnar K, Broche-Pérez Y, Buzea C, Cassibba R, Carbonell MM, Chen BB, Dimitrovska GR, Công Doanh D, Dominguez Espinosa ADC, Edine WG, Ferenczi N, Fernández-Morales R, Gaete J, Gan Y, Giolo S, Giordani RCF, Friehs MT, Gindi S, Gjoneska B, Godoy JC, Del Pilar Grazioso M, Hancheva C, Hapunda G, Hihara S, Husain MS, Islam MS, Janovská A, Javakhishvili N, Jovanović V, Kabir RS, Abdul Kadir NB, Karl J, Katović D, Kauyzbay Z, Kawashima TD, Kazmierczak M, Khanna R, Khosla M, Klicperová-Baker M, Kozina A, Krauss SE, Landabur R, Lefringhausen K, Lewandowska-Walter A, Liang YH, Makashvili A, Malik S, Manrique-Millones D, Mastrotheodoros S, McGrath B, Mechili EA, Mejía M, Mhizha S, Michalek-Kwiecien J, Miconi D, Mohsen F, Moreta-Herrera R, Muhl C, Muradyan M, Musso P, Naterer A, Nemat A, Neto F, Neto J, Palacio LMA, Okati-Aliabad H, Orellana CI, Orellana LM, Mishra SK, Park J, Pavlova I, Peralta E, Petrytsa P, Pišot S, Prot F, Rasia J, Rivera R, Riyanti BPD, Samekin A, Seisembekov T, Serapinas D, Silletti F, Sharma P, Shukla S, Skrzypińska K, Šolcová IP, Solomontos-Kountouri O, Stanciu A, Stefenel D, Steinmetz LCL, Stogianni M, Stuart J, Sudarnoto LF, Sugimura K, Sultana S, Suryani AO, Tair E, Tavitian-Elmadjan L, Thome LD, Uka F, Valickienė RP, Walter B, Wendt GW, Yang PJ, Yıldırım E, Yu Y, Yunes MAM, Zanoni da Silva M, Rudnev M

Commun Psychol 1 (1) 43 [2023-12-15; online 2023-12-15]

With the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioural scientists aimed to illuminate reasons why people comply with (or not) large-scale cooperative activities. Here we investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours in a sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease with support towards preventive COVID-19 behaviours would be moderated by trust in the government. Results suggest that the association between fear of disease and support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours was strongest when trust in the government was weak (both at individual- and country-level). Conversely, the association with empathic prosocial concern was strongest when trust in the government was high, but this moderation was only found at individual-level scores of governmental trust. We discuss how motivations may be shaped by socio-cultural context, and outline how findings may contribute to a better understanding of collective action during global crises.

PubMed 39242865

DOI 10.1038/s44271-023-00046-5

Crossref 10.1038/s44271-023-00046-5

pmc: PMC11332001
pii: 10.1038/s44271-023-00046-5