COVID-19 Protective Behaviors Are Forms of Prosocial and Unselfish Behaviors

What drives preventative health behaviors one year into a pandemic? A replication and extension

Objective: There is continued interest in understanding what leads people to engage in CDC-recommended COVID-19 prevention behaviors. We tested whether fear and COVID-19 worry would replicate as the primary drivers of six CDC recommended prevention behaviors. Methods and Measures: We recruited 741 adult participants during the second major peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (early 2021). Using very similar methods to the original study, participants completed a 10-day daily diary. Mixed effects models identified the strongest predictors of each individual prevention behavior as well as approach and avoidance behavior clusters. Results: At the between-person level, COVID-19 worry, COVID-19 perceived susceptibility, fear, and positive emotions all had positive zero-order associations with the prevention behaviors. However, with all predictors in the same model together, primarily COVID-19 worry remained significant for both the individual behaviors and behavior clusters. At the within-person level, only fear related to assessing oneself for COVID-19 and approach behaviors on the same day, but not the next day. Mediational analyses suggested COVID-19 worry, but not COVID-19 susceptibility, mediated the links between fear and approach/avoidance behaviors. Conclusion: Findings replicated worry about yourself or a loved one getting COVID-19 as the strongest predictor of prevention behaviors.

The politicized pandemic: Ideological polarization and the behavioral response to COVID-19

In a representative sample of the U.S. population during the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic, we investigate how prosociality and ideology interact in their relationship with health-protecting behavior and trust in the government to handle the crisis. We find that an experimental measure of prosociality based on standard economic games positively relates to protective behavior. Conservatives are less compliant with COVID-19-related behavioral restrictions than liberals and evaluate the government's handling of the crisis significantly more positively. We show that prosociality does not mediate the impact of political ideology. This finding means that conservatives are less compliant with protective health guidelines - independent of differences in prosociality between both ideological camps. Behavioral differences between liberals and conservatives are roughly only one-fourth of the size of their differences in judging the government's crisis management. This result suggests that Americans were more polarized in their political views than in their acceptance of public health advice.

Effects of media on preventive behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic

The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic required implementation of a variety of measures. In addition to pharmaceutical measures, such as vaccines, changing individuals' nonpharmaceutical preventive behaviour is essential to prevent the spread of infection. In uncertain situations, such as a pandemic, media sources are important for guiding individuals' decision-making behaviour. In this study, we examined the effects of media use on preventive behaviour during COVID-19. Earlier studies have shown that social networking service (SNS) browsing promotes preventive behaviour. However, those studies only assessed a single point during the early stages of the pandemic; therefore, the effects on ongoing preventive behaviour are unclear. Thus, a two-wave panel survey was conducted in 2020 and 2021 for an exploratory analysis of changes in the effects of media on individuals' preventive behaviour over time. The results show that the effect of SNS browsing on preventing going out was confirmed only during the early stage of the pandemic and was not observed 1 year later. It is also shown that those who shifted from self-restraint to going out within 1 year were not affected by the type of media use, but by cognitive factors. As the situation changes during a pandemic, analyses that consider time-series changes are essential for gaining insights about the effects of media on the promotion and maintenance of continuous prevention behaviours.

Awareness of meaning and quest for meaning: The mechanisms between future orientation and prosociality among youth during pandemic

Introduction

The positive relationship between future orientation and prosocial tendency has been consistently reported. However, the possible mechanism has not been examined yet. Previous research revealed the positive relationship between future orientation and meaning in life, as well as between meaning in life and prosocial tendency. Hence, it is hypothesized that the two components of meaning in life (presence of meaning and search for meaning) possibly mediate the relationship between future orientation and prosocial tendency.

Methods

During the first half of 2020, 430 Hong Kong youths aged 15-35 (male: 30.5%; female: 69.5%) were recruited to participate an online cross-sectional survey. The survey included three scales: (1) The Scale for Measuring Adult's Prosocialness, (2) Consideration of Future Consequence Scale, and (3) Meaning in Life Questionnaire.

Results

The key findings showed that: (1) females had higher level of prosocial tendency than males, and (2) significant partial mediating effects of both presence of meaning and search for meaning on the relationship between future orientation and prosocial tendency. Nevertheless, the multi-group mediation model did not show significant gender difference.

Discussion

These findings implied that future-oriented and meaning-focused interventions could possibly enhance youth's sense of meaning in everyday life and foster their meaning searching tendency, which further strengthen the positive effect of their future orientation on prosocial tendency, even during life adversities.

Reflection of Types of Prosocial Behavior During COVID-19 in Collectivistic Asian Countries-India and Indonesia

COVID-19 is an infectious disease that has widened the gap between victims and non-victims in society. Understanding how individuals support and assist COVID-19 sufferers in a pandemic crisis is critical. Thus, this study aims to qualitatively evaluate the prosocial intention and types of prosocial behavior toward COVID-19 victims by low socioeconomic individuals from India and Indonesia's collectivistic societies. We conducted semi-structured and in-depth interviews during the lockdown from March to May 2020, via phone and in-person, using a purposive selection of respondents (total n = 50). The data were analyzed using the qualitative synthesis method. Five themes were discovered: 1) too scared to help, 2) love to help but scared: moral dilemma, 3) informing authority who knows how to handle, 4) caring, sharing, and supporting, but with a distance, and 5) helping at one's personal health risk. This study highlights that prosocial intentions range from minor acts of kindness to self-harm and out-of-bounds acts of kindness for COVID-19 victims.

Exploring the drivers of COVID-19 protective behaviors among Singaporean tourists to Indonesia using travel bubbles

This study investigats the relationships among positive emotions, perceived threats, protection motivation, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination intentions, quarantine-free travel intentions and COVID-19 protective behaviors in the context of quarantine-free travel. Data were collected from Singaporean tourists in Batam and Bintan of Indonesia using travel bubbles. A total of 387 respondents completed the questionnaires. The findings can help tourism managers create and implement market-driven service initiatives to increase positive emotions, protection motivation, and intentions to take quarantine-free travel and decrease perceived threats in order to enable tourists to have accurate COVID-19 protective behaviors.

Affective States During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Progression of Intensity and Relation With Public Health Compliance Behavior

The COVID-19 pandemic was expected to cause intense affective reactions. This situation provided a unique opportunity to examine the characteristics and correlates of emotions in a real-world context with great significance. Our study aimed to describe the progression of positive and negative affective states during the pandemic, and to investigate which affective states predicted compliance with public health measures. We undertook a survey of affective states in the province of Quebec at the beginning, the peak, and the aftermath of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We recruited 530 responders; 154 responded to all three surveys. We used self-report scales to measure affective states and compliance with public health measures. We then computed separate linear regressions for the three phases of our study, with compliance with health measures as the dependent variable. Affective states were generally most intense at the beginning of the pandemic. Fear-related pandemic-related affective states reliably predicted compliance with public health measures in the three phases of our study. Positively valenced affective states related to the societal response also contributed predictive value, but only at the peak of the first wave.

Personality and context-related factors of helping and helping-related affect during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic led to introduction of lockdown measures in many countries, while in Serbia the Government also introduced the curfew by which vulnerable groups of citizens were prohibited from leaving their homes at any time. In such a situation many citizens organized to voluntarily offer their help to those in isolation, which offered a unique opportunity to examine prosocial behavior in the natural setting of global crisis. This study examined the differences between non-helpers and helpers, as well as groups of helpers who provided their help to close or unknown others, in personality (prosocial tendencies, selfishness and communal narcissism) and context-related factors (situation specific empathy and fear) of prosocial behaviors. Additionally, the study also analyzed the helping-related affect among helpers, depending on the recipient of help and personality characteristics. Results revealed that groups of helpers with different recipients of help (close persons, unknown persons or both) were not different among each other, but they were different from non-helpers. Non-helpers were more selfish and had self-focused prosocial tendencies, and they showed less empathy towards people in isolation, compared to helper groups. However, the helping-related affect depended on the recipient of help and helper's personality traits. This study confirmed some previous findings and offered novel insights into factors related to helping in crises.

You before me: How vertical collectivism and feelings of threat predicted more socially desirable behaviour during COVID-19 pandemic

The present study investigated the relationship between outward orientation and COVID-related prosocial behavior, including adherence to containment measures, caring for others and providing support, limiting one's social life and responsible purchasing behavior. A sample of 500 Slovaks (250 women) aged between 18 and 86 (M = 44.32, SD = 15.66) participated in the study and responded to questions concerning their sociodemographic and personality characteristics, collectivism and individualism, the consciousness of future consequences and emotional responses to the pandemic. The results show that apart from the perceived threat of COVID-19, vertical collectivism is among the strongest antecedents of COVID-related prosocial behavior. Specifically, feelings of threat, vertical collectivism, conscientiousness, agreeableness, liberalism, and education predicted more prosocial behavior during the pandemic. Consequently, the study indicates that while excessive fear may have adverse effects on individuals' well-being, appealing to and cultivating collectivistic sentiments could contribute not only to containing the pandemic but also to making others' lives more bearable while it lasts.

Light and Dark core of personality and the adherence to COVID-19 containment measures: The roles of motivation and trust in government

The present study investigated the relationship between the Light and Dark Core of personality and self-reported adherence to COVID-19 containment measures. A gender-balanced representative sample of 600 Slovaks participated in the study. We formulated a mediation model, hypothesising that the relationship between Light and Dark Core and self-reported adherence is mediated by the motivation to comply with the measures. The results of structural equation modelling showed that self-reported adherence was positively related to the Light Core and this relationship was also mediated by motivation. The Dark Core, in turn, showed a negative relationship with the adherence, while no mediation was found. Importantly, the findings of both Light and Dark Core models remained robust after including trust in government. The present study contributes to theory by providing first results corroborating the existence of Light Core of personality. The findings of this study can also help to better shape the communications about containment measures to address both individuals with high levels of benevolent and malevolent traits.

Understanding Compliant Behavior During a Pandemic: Contribution From the Perspective of Schema-Based Psychotherapy

Objective

The current study examined whether compliance with anti-pandemic measures during the COVID-19 pandemic relates to (a) importance of the fulfillment of core psychological needs, namely, relationship, self-esteem, efficacy, and pleasure; (b) coping behavior styles, namely, surrender, self-soothing, divert attention, and confrontation; and (c) worries or concerns beyond COVID-19 which may impair wellbeing.

Methods

This study used a cross-sectional design and online survey data from responses to a structured questionnaire developed within the theoretical framework of schema-based psychotherapy on psychological needs and coping behavior styles from 740 participants in Central Europe and West Africa.

Results

Analysis indicated that people with the psychological needs of “pleasure” and “efficacy” and the coping style of “surrender” were more likely to comply with anti-pandemic measures. We also found that people with the coping style of “confrontation” were less likely to comply. There were no statistically significant relationships between compliance and “relationship,” “self-esteem,” “self-soothing,” “divert attention,” and “existential concerns.”

Discussion

Our findings indicate that how likely a given individual is to comply with prescribed pandemic countermeasures varies based on their specific psychological needs and behavior styles. Therefore, to control contagion during a pandemic, authorities must recognize the relevance of human need fulfillment and their behavior styles and accordingly highlight and encourage admissible and feasible actions. The findings demonstrate that some individual differences in core psychological needs and coping behavior patterns predict compliance behavior.

Exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic environment and generosity

We report data from an online experiment which allows us to study how generosity changed over a 6-day period during the initial explosive growth of the COVID-19 pandemic in Andalusia, Spain, while the country was under a strict lockdown. Participants (n = 969) could donate a fraction of a €100 prize to an unknown charity. Our data are particularly rich in the age distribution and we complement them with daily public information about COVID-19-related deaths, infections and hospital admissions. We find correlational evidence that donations decreased in the period under study, particularly among older individuals. Our analysis of the mechanisms behind the detected decrease in generosity suggests that expectations about others' behaviour, perceived mortality risk and (alarming) information play a key-but independent-role for behavioural adaptation. These results indicate that social behaviour is quickly adjusted in response to the pandemic environment, possibly reflecting some form of selective prosociality.

Dark Tetrad and COVID-19 protective measures: Mediating effects of risk-taking tendencies

Previous research has shown that Dark Triad traits are tied to non-compliance, while there is not enough research regarding sadism. As dark traits are related to risk-taking behaviors, we hypothesized that proneness to risk-taking could be a mediating mechanism explaining the relation between dark traits and non-compliance with protective measures. Sample comprised of 348 participants (77% women) who completed the Hateful Eight (a multifaceted Short Dark Tetrad scale), DOSPERT for measuring different aspects of risk-taking tendencies, and questions regarding frequency of compliance with protection measures and vaccination. Results showed that recklessness (aspect of psychopathy) and violent voyeurism (aspect of sadism) had negative effects on compliance with protective measures. These relations were fully explained by health/safety risk tendency. Deviousness (aspect of Machiavellianism) contributed to unwillingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 independently of risk-taking tendencies. Furthermore, selection of particular vaccine was not associated with dark traits, but those who selected all vaccines (both EU-approved and non-approved) had higher scores on social risks compared to those who selected only non-approved vaccines. Additionally, those who selected only EU-approved vaccines showed lower scores on ethical risks compared to the rest of the participants who were vaccinated or applied for vaccination.

Factors influencing protective behavior in the post-COVID-19 period in China: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The study aimed to explore the factors influencing protective behavior and its association with factors during the post-COVID-19 period in China based on the risk perception emotion model and the protective action decision model (PADM).

METHODS

A total of 2830 valid questionnaires were collected as data for empirical analysis via network sampling in China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to explore the relationships between the latent variables.

RESULTS

SEM indicated that social emotion significantly positively affected protective behavior and intention. Protective behavioral intention had significant direct effects on protective behavior, and the direct effects were also the largest. Government trust did not have a significant effect on protective behavior but did have a significant indirect effect. Moreover, it was found that government trust had the greatest direct effect on social emotion. In addition, we found that excessive risk perception level may directly reduce people's intention and frequency of engaging in protective behavior, which was not conducive to positive, protective behavior.

CONCLUSION

In the post-COVID-19 period, theoretical framework constructed in this study can be used to evaluate people's protective behavior. The government should strengthen its information-sharing and interaction with the public, enhance people's trust in the government, create a positive social mood, appropriately regulate people's risk perception, and, finally, maintain a positive attitude and intent of protection.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Prosocial Beliefs and Prevention Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Controlling the COVID-19 pandemic has required communities to engage in prosocial action, including behaviors that may inconvenience individuals, but protect the collective (e.g., mask wearing, social distancing). The purpose of this study was to understand to what extent COVID-19 prosocial beliefs and behavior differ by race/ethnicity and why this might be the case. A US nationally representative sample of 410 adults completed a survey about COVID-19 beliefs and prevention behaviors between June 12 and 18, 2020. Compared to White respondents, Black respondents perceived the risk of COVID-19 to be greater to the US population; and both Black and Latinx respondents thought it was more important to protect a variety of non-close others (e.g., people in their city or state). Black and Latinx respondents engaged in several prevention behaviors, including social distancing, to a greater extent than White respondents. There were indirect effects of Black vs. White race on engaging in protective behaviors through greater perceived risk to others and beliefs in the importance of protecting distal others. Results indicate that targeted messages promoting prevention, including vaccination with pro-social messages, may resonate with communities of color. They also suggest that lower levels of prosocial beliefs among White people have likely hindered the US response to the epidemic.

Prosocial Orientation of Russians During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Caring for Others and Yourself

To mitigate the potentially devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to identify psychosocial and moral resources. The care, preservation, protection, and well-being of social communities are attributes of prosocial behavior that can be such a resource. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of prosocial orientation of Russian youth during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to identify strategies for prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 447 people. The study was conducted in May 2020 in the form of an online survey of subjects using Google Forms ("Moral Foundations Questionnaire method" and "Portrait Values Questionnaire"). The research made it possible to establish that Russians were dominated by norms of care, fairness, purity; values of benevolence-universalism, security, and self-direction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the prosocial orientation of Russians may manifest itself in the following behavioral strategies: proactive prosocial strategy of "caring for others" (true altruism, expressed in forms of volunteering, helping a stranger, and charity despite the risk of contracting a coronavirus infection); egoistic strategy of prosocial behavior "self-care through caring for others" (volunteering based on self-development; helping a stranger to improve your own psychological well-being); conventional prosocial strategy "self-care" (self-isolation and preventive behavior). In the long run, it is necessary to identify personal and environmental resources that allowed people to effectively implement a prosocial self-isolation strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as various forms of volunteerism.

Why Do People (Not) Engage in Social Distancing? Proximate and Ultimate Analyses of Norm-Following During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has had a profound negative effect on many aspects of human life. While pharmacological solutions are being developed and implemented, the onus of mitigating the impact of the virus falls, in part, on individual citizens and their adherence to public health guidelines. However, promoting adherence to these guidelines has proven challenging. There is a pressing need to understand the factors that influence people's adherence to these guidelines in order to improve public compliance. To this end, the current study investigated whether people's perceptions of others' adherence predict their own adherence. We also investigated whether any influence of perceived social norms was mediated by perceptions of the moral wrongness of non-adherence, anticipated shame for non-adherence, or perceptions of disease severity. One hundred fifty-two Australians participated in our study between June 6, 2020 and August 21, 2020. Findings from this preliminary investigation suggest that (1) people match their behavior to perceived social norms, and (2) this is driven, at least in part, by people using others' behavior as a cue to the severity of disease threat. Such findings provide insight into the proximate and ultimate bases of norm-following behavior, and shed preliminary light on public health-related behavior in the context of a pandemic. Although further research is needed, the results of this study-which suggest that people use others' behavior as a cue to how serious the pandemic is and as a guide for their own behavior-could have important implications for public health organizations, social movements, and political leaders and the role they play in the fight against epidemics and pandemics.