Dataset Information

Politicization of COVID-19 health-protective behaviors in the United States: Longitudinal and cross-national evidence.

ABSTRACT: During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. conservative politicians and the media downplayed the risk of both contracting COVID-19 and the effectiveness of recommended health behaviors. Health behavior theories suggest perceived vulnerability to a health threat and perceived effectiveness of recommended health-protective behaviors determine motivation to follow recommendations. Accordingly, we predicted that-as a result of politicization of the pandemic-politically conservative Americans would be less likely to enact recommended health-protective behaviors. In two longitudinal studies of U.S. residents, political conservatism was inversely associated with perceived health risk and adoption of health-protective behaviors over time. The effects of political orientation on health-protective behaviors were mediated by perceived risk of infection, perceived severity of infection, and perceived effectiveness of the health-protective behaviors. In a global cross-national analysis, effects were stronger in the U.S. (N = 10,923) than in an international sample (total N = 51,986), highlighting the increased and overt politicization of health behaviors in the U.S.

SUBMITTER: Stroebe W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8528320 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Politicization of COVID-19 health-protective behaviors in the United States: Longitudinal and cross-national evidence.

Stroebe Wolfgang W vanDellen Michelle R MR Abakoumkin Georgios G Lemay Edward P EP Schiavone William M WM Agostini Maximilian M Bélanger Jocelyn J JJ Gützkow Ben B Kreienkamp Jannis J Reitsema Anne Margit AM Abdul Khaiyom Jamilah Hanum JH Ahmedi Vjolica V Akkas Handan H Almenara Carlos A CA Atta Mohsin M Bagci Sabahat Cigdem SC Basel Sima S Berisha Kida Edona E Bernardo Allan B I ABI Buttrick Nicholas R NR Chobthamkit Phatthanakit P Choi Hoon-Seok HS Cristea Mioara M Csaba Sára S Damnjanović Kaja K Danyliuk Ivan I Dash Arobindu A Di Santo Daniela D Douglas Karen M KM Enea Violeta V Faller Daiane Gracieli DG Fitzsimons Gavan G Gheorghiu Alexandra A Gómez Ángel Á Hamaidia Ali A Han Qing Q Helmy Mai M Hudiyana Joevarian J Jeronimus Bertus F BF Jiang Ding-Yu DY Jovanović Veljko V Kamenov Željka Ž Kende Anna A Keng Shian-Ling SL Kieu Tra Thi Thanh TTT Koc Yasin Y Kovyazina Kamila K Kozytska Inna I Krause Joshua J Kruglanksi Arie W AW Kurapov Anton A Kutlaca Maja M Lantos Nóra Anna NA Lemsmana Cokorda Bagus Jaya CBJ Louis Winnifred R WR Lueders Adrian A Malik Najma Iqbal NI Martinez Anton A McCabe Kira O KO Mehulić Jasmina J Milla Mirra Noor MN Mohammed Idris I Molinario Erica E Moyano Manuel M Muhammad Hayat H Mula Silvana S Muluk Hamdi H Myroniuk Solomiia S Najafi Reza R Nisa Claudia F CF Nyúl Boglárka B O'Keefe Paul A PA Olivas Osuna Jose Javier JJ Osin Evgeny N EN Park Joonha J Pica Gennaro G Pierro Antonio A Rees Jonas J Resta Elena E Rullo Marika M Ryan Michelle K MK Samekin Adil A Santtila Pekka P Sasin Edyta E Schumpe Birga M BM Selim Heyla A HA Stanton Michael Vicente MV Sultana Samiah S Sutton Robbie M RM Tseliou Eleftheria E Utsugi Akira A van Breen Jolien Anne JA Van Lissa Caspar J CJ Van Veen Kees K Vázquez Alexandra A Wollast Robin R Wai-Lan Yeung Victoria V Zand Somayeh S Žeželj Iris Lav IL Zheng Bang B Zick Andreas A Zúñiga Claudia C Leander N Pontus NP

PloS one 20211020 10

During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. conservative politicians and the media downplayed the risk of both contracting COVID-19 and the effectiveness of recommended health behaviors. Health behavior theories suggest perceived vulnerability to a health threat and perceived effectiveness of recommended health-protective behaviors determine motivation to follow recommendations. Accordingly, we predicted that-as a result of politicization of the pandemic-politically conservative Amer ...[more]

PMID: 34669724

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Project description:BackgroundVaccine equity has been a major concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the principle of vaccine equity, donor countries should apply the criterion of needs to make decisions about vaccine donation instead of considering recipient countries' economic status. We examine whether people follow the same criterion or consider other factors to decide which country to donate vaccines and how many vaccines should be delivered.MethodsWe conducted online surveys with the design of conjoint experiment in the United States and Taiwan in 2021. 1,532 American citizens and 1,587 Taiwanese citizens were interviewed. The respondents were broadly quota-matched to their respective demographic proportions on the dimensions of age, gender, and education. We estimated the average marginal component effects (AMCEs) of the conjoint attributes by using the OLS regression models with standard errors clustered at the respondent level.Results15,320 and 15,870 decisions on vaccine donation generated by conjoint experiment respectively in the United States and Taiwan were included in the analysis. Both American and Taiwanese people tend to donate vaccines to countries that suffer severe consequences of COVID-19 and democracies compared to authoritarian countries. However, they are less willing to donate vaccines to those with higher levels of capability in response to COVID-19. Taiwanese people tend to donate vaccines to countries having formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan (AMCE 13.4%, 95% CI 11.8%-15.1%). Nonetheless, American people would rather donate vaccines to countries without formal diplomatic relations with the United States (AMCE - 4.0%, 95% CI -5.6%--2.4%).ConclusionsThe findings reveal that politics plays a significant role in people's decisions about vaccine donation. Under electoral pressure, political leaders must think about how to respond to the public's preferences over vaccine donation to achieve vaccine equity and address the global health crisis.

Project description:Protective behaviors such as mask wearing and physical distancing are critical to slow the spread of COVID-19, even in the context of vaccine scale-up. Understanding the variation in self-reported COVID-19 protective behaviors is critical to developing public health messaging. The purpose of the study is to provide nationally representative estimates of five self-reported COVID-19 protective behaviors and correlates of such behaviors. In this cross-sectional survey study of US adults, surveys were administered via internet and telephone. Adults were surveyed from April 30-May 4, 2020, a time of peaking COVID-19 incidence within the US. Participants were recruited from the probability-based AmeriSpeak® national panel. Brief surveys were completed by 994 adults, with 73.0% of respondents reported mask wearing, 82.7% reported physical distancing, 75.1% reported crowd avoidance, 89.8% reported increased hand-washing, and 7.7% reported having prior COVID-19 testing. Multivariate analysis (p critical value .05) indicates that women were more likely to report protective behaviors than men, as were those over age 60. Respondents who self-identified as having low incomes, histories of criminal justice involvement, and Republican Party affiliation, were less likely to report four protective behaviors, though Republicans and individuals with criminal justice histories were more likely to report having received COVID-19 testing. The majority of Americans engaged in COVID-19 protective behaviors, with low-income Americans, those with histories of criminal justice involvement, and self-identified Republicans less likely to engage in these preventive behaviors. Culturally competent public health messaging and interventions might focus on these latter groups to prevent future infections. These findings will remain highly relevant even with vaccines widely available, given the complementarities between vaccines and protective behaviors, as well as the many challenges in delivering vaccines.

Dataset Information

Politicization of COVID-19 health-protective behaviors in the United States: Longitudinal and cross-national evidence.

Publications

Politicization of COVID-19 health-protective behaviors in the United States: Longitudinal and cross-national evidence.

Similar Datasets

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