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

Stroebe W 1 , vanDellen MR 2 , Abakoumkin G 3 , Lemay EP 4 , Schiavone WM 2 , Agostini M 1 Show all authors , Bélanger JJ 5 , Gützkow B 1 , Kreienkamp J 1 , Reitsema AM 1 , Abdul Khaiyom JH 6 , Ahmedi V 7 , Akkas H 8 , Almenara CA 9 , Atta M 10 , Bagci SC 11 , Basel S 5 , Berisha Kida E 7 , Bernardo ABI 12 , Buttrick NR 13 , Chobthamkit P 14 , Choi HS 15 , Cristea M 16 , Csaba S 17 , Damnjanović K 18 , Danyliuk I 19 , Dash A 20 , Di Santo D 21 , Douglas KM 22 , Enea V 23 , Faller DG 5 , Fitzsimons G 24 , Gheorghiu A 23 , Gómez Á 25 , Hamaidia A 26 , Han Q 27 , Helmy M 28 , Hudiyana J 29 , Jeronimus BF 1 , Jiang DY 30 , Jovanović V 31 , Kamenov Ž 32 , Kende A 17 , Keng SL 33 , Kieu TTT 34 , Koc Y 1 , Kovyazina K 35 , Kozytska I 10 , Krause J 1 , Kruglanksi AW 4 , Kurapov A 19 , Kutlaca M 36 , Lantos NA 17 , Lemsmana CBJ 37 , Louis WR 38 , Lueders A 39 , Malik NI 10 , Martinez A 40 , McCabe KO 41 , Mehulić J 32 , Milla MN 29 , Mohammed I 42 , Molinario E 43 , Moyano M 44 , Muhammad H 45 , Mula S 21 , Muluk H 29 , Myroniuk S 1 , Najafi R 46 , Nisa CF 5 , Nyúl B 17 , O'Keefe PA 33 , Olivas Osuna JJ 47 , Osin EN 48 , Park J 49 , Pica G 50 , Pierro A 21 , Rees J 51 , Resta E 21 , Rullo M 52 , Ryan MK 53 , Samekin A 54 , Santtila P 55 , Sasin E 5 , Schumpe BM 56 , Selim HA 57 , Stanton MV 58 , Sultana S 1 , Sutton RM 22 , Tseliou E 3 , Utsugi A 59 , van Breen JA 60 , Van Lissa CJ 61 , Van Veen K 1 , Vázquez A 25 , Wollast R 39 , Wai-Lan Yeung V 62 , Zand S 46 , Žeželj IL 18 , Zheng B 63 , Zick A 51 , Zúñiga C 64 , Leander NP 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
  • 2 Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America
  • 3 Laboratory of Psychology, Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
  • 4 Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America
  • 5 Department of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • 6 Department of Psychology, International Islamic University Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 7 Faculty of Education, Pristine University, Pristina, Kosovo
  • 8 Organizational Behavior, Ankara Science University, Ankara, Turkey
  • 9 Faculty of Health Science, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Lima, Peru
  • 10 Department of Psychology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan
  • 11 Department of Psychology, Sabanci University, Tuzla, Turkey
  • 12 Department of Psychology, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
  • 13 Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States of America
  • 14 Department of Psychology, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
  • 15 Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea
  • 16 Department of Psychology, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland
  • 17 Department of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 18 Department of Psychology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 19 Department of Psychology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine
  • 20 Department of Social Sciences, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 21 Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, University "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy
  • 22 School of Psychology, University of Kent, Kent, United Kingdom
  • 23 Department of Psychology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iași, Romania
  • 24 Departments of Marketing and Psychology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
  • 25 Center for European Studies, Faculty of Law, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, Madrid, Spain
  • 26 Department of Psychology and Human Resources Development, Setif 2 University, Setif, Algeria
  • 27 The School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
  • 28 Department of Psychology, Menoufia University, Al Minufiyah, Egypt
  • 29 Department of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 30 Department of Psychology, National Chung-Cheng University, Minxiong, Taiwan
  • 31 Department of Psychology, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
  • 32 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 33 Division of Social Science, Yale-NUS College, Singapore, Singapore
  • 34 Department of Psychology, HCMC University of Education, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
  • 35 Independent Researcher, Kazakhstan
  • 36 Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
  • 37 Department of Psychiatry, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia
  • 38 School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
  • 39 Laboratoire de Psychologie Sociale et Cognitive, Université Clermont-Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
  • 40 Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
  • 41 Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
  • 42 Mass Communication, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Sokoto, Nigeria
  • 43 Department of Psychology, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Florida, United States of America
  • 44 Department of Psychology, University of Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain
  • 45 Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan
  • 46 Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran
  • 47 Department of Political Science and Administration, National Distance Education University (UNED), Madrid, Spain
  • 48 Department of Psychology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
  • 49 Graduate School of Management, NUCB Business School, Nagoya, Japan
  • 50 School of Law, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy
  • 51 Research Institute Social Cohesion, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence, and Department of Social Psychology Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
  • 52 Department of Educational, Humanities and Intercultural Communication, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
  • 53 Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
  • 54 School of Liberal Arts, M. Narikbayec KAZGUU University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
  • 55 Department of Psychology, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China
  • 56 Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 57 Department of Psychology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 58 Department of Public Health, California State University East Bay, Hayward, California, United States of America
  • 59 Department of Psychology, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
  • 60 Institute of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
  • 61 Department of Methodology & Statistics, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • 62 Department of Psychology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China
  • 63 Ageing Epidemiology Research Unit, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
  • 64 Department of Psychology, Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile, Chile
PLoS One, 2021;16(10):e0256740.
PMID: 34669724 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256740

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.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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