Lives versus Livelihoods? Perceived economic risk has a stronger association with support for COVID-19 preventive measures than perceived health risk

Claudia F. NISA*, Jocelyn J. BÉLANGER, Daiane G. FALLER, Nicholas R. BUTTRICK, Jochen O. MIERAU, Maura AUSTIN, Birga M. SCHUMPE, Edyta M. SASIN, Maximilian AGOSTINI, Ben GÜTZKOW, Jannis KREIENKAMP, Georgios ABAKOUMKIN, Jamilah Hanum ABDUL KHAIYOM, Vjollca AHMEDI, Handan AKKAS, Carlos A. ALMENARA, Mohsin ATTA, Sabahat Cigdem BAGCI, Sima BASEL, Edona Berisha KIDAAllan B. I. BERNARDO, Phatthanakit CHOBTHAMKIT, Hoon-Seok CHOI, Mioara CRISTEA, Sára CSABA, Kaja DAMNJANOVIC, Ivan DANYLIUK, Arobindu DASH, Daniela DI SANTO, Karen M. DOUGLAS, Violeta ENEA, Gavan FITZSIMONS, Alexandra GHEORGHIU, Ángel GÓMEZ, Joanna GRZYMALA-MOSZCZYNSKA, Ali HAMAIDIA, Qing HAN, Mai HELMY, Joevarian HUDIYANA, Bertus F. JERONIMUS, Ding-Yu JIANG, Veljko JOVANOVIC, Zeljka KAMENOV, Anna KENDE, Shian-Ling KENG, Tra Thi Thanh KIEU, Yasin KOC, Kamila KOVYAZINA, Inna KOZYTSKA, Joshua KRAUSE, Arie W. KRUGLANSKI, Anton KURAPOV, Maja KUTLACA, Nóra Anna LANTOS, Edward P. Jr LEMAY, Cokorda Bagus Java LESMANA, Winnifred R. LOUIS, Adrian LUEDERS, Najma Iqbal MALIK, Anton MARTINEZ, Kira O. McCABE, Jasmina MEHULIC, Mirra Noor MILLA, Idris MOHAMMED, Erica MOLINARIO, Manuel MOYANO, Hayat MUHAMMAD, Silvana MULA, Hamdi MULUK, Solomiia MYRONIUK, Reza NAJAFI, Boglárka NYÚL, Paul A. O'KEEFE, Jose Javier Olivas OSUNA, Evgeny N. OSIN, Joonha PARK, Gennaro PICA, Antonio PIERRO, Jonas REES, Anne Margit REITSEMA, Elena RESTA, Marika RULLO, Michelle K. RYAN, Adil SAMEKIN, Pekka SANTTILA, Heyla A. SELIM, Michael Vicente STANTON, Samiah SULTANA, Robbie M. SUTTON, Eleftheria TSELIOU, Akira UTSUGI, Jolien Anne VAN BREEN, Caspar J. VAN LISSA, Kees VAN VEEN, Michelle R. VANDELLEN, Alexandra VAZQUEZ, Robin WOLLAST, Somayeh ZAND, Iris Lav ŽEŽELJ, Victoria Wai-lan YEUNG, Bang ZHENG, Andreas ZICK, Claudia ZÚÑIGA, N. Pontus LEANDER, PsyCorona Study

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal PublicationsJournal Article (refereed)peer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper examines whether compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures is motivated by wanting to save lives or save the economy (or both), and which implications this carries to fight the pandemic. National representative samples were collected from 24 countries (N = 25,435). The main predictors were (1) perceived risk to contract coronavirus, (2) perceived risk to suffer economic losses due to coronavirus, and (3) their interaction effect. Individual and country-level variables were added as covariates in multilevel regression models. We examined compliance with various preventive health behaviors and support for strict containment policies. Results show that perceived economic risk consistently predicted mitigation behavior and policy support - and its effects were positive. Perceived health risk had mixed effects. Only two significant interactions between health and economic risk were identified - both positive.
Original languageEnglish
Article number9669
Number of pages12
JournalScientific Reports
Volume11
Issue number1
Early online date6 May 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 May 2021

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