Heightened religiosity proactively and reactively responds to the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe: Novel insights from the parasite-stress theory of sociality and the behavioral immune system theory

Country's value priorities in health crisis: How dominant societal motivations shape COVID-19 severity

“…Considering the issue of spatial autocorrelation, where variables tend to cluster in nearby locations ( Dormann et al, 2007 ; Gu et al, 2020 ; Kerkman et al, 2017 ; Legendre, 1993 ), multilevel analysis was employed. Geopolitical regions defined by the United Nations ( https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ ) were used for nesting countries/territories within corresponding regions ( Kusano & Kemmelmeier, 2020 ; Ma, 2022b ) to account for spatial clustering.…”

“…The parasite-stress theory proposes that cultural values evolve as adaptive responses to disease threats, with collectivism values potentially functioning as disease-avoidance mechanisms ( Fincher et al, 2008 ; Fischer & Poortinga, 2012 ; Thornhill et al, 2010 ). Thus, examining cultural values through this theoretical lens is essential for understanding the COVID-19 pandemic ( Ma, 2021 , 2022b ; Ma & Ye, 2021 ). Studies have shown collectivism values positively predict COVID-19 responses at individual and societal levels ( Biddlestone et al, 2020 ; Canatay et al, 2021 ; Cho et al, 2022 ; Dang & Xiao, 2022 ; Germani et al, 2020 ; Gokmen et al, 2021 ; Huang et al, 2020 ; Lu et al, 2021 ; Maaravi et al, 2021 ; Rajkumar, 2021 ; Webster et al, 2021 ).…”

Beyond the surface: accounting for confounders in understanding the link between collectivism and COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

“…Numerous studies have demonstrated that population-level collectivism serves as a significant predictor of COVID-19 infection and mortality rates across different countries [ 31 – 36 ]. As postulated by the parasite-stress theory of sociality, which suggests a positive association between higher pathogen prevalence and stronger ingroup assortative sociality [ 11 , 13 , 14 , 17 , 23 ], findings at the group level have further indicated that ingroup assortative sociality is a proactive response to the COVID-19 pandemic [ 37 , 38 ].…”

“…Given the intricate nature of the association between collectivism and COVID-19 severity, it is susceptible to the influence of various confounding factors. Cross-national studies typically encompass a wide array of variables, including healthcare infrastructure, economic indicators, political systems, and cultural dimensions [ 37 , 51 , 52 ], which may moderate or mediate the relationship between collectivism and COVID-19 outcomes. On the other hand, state-level analyses, while offering a more localized perspective [ 53 ], may not fully account for all confounding variables, potentially leading to disparate findings.…”

“…Although recent studies have conducted group-level analyses to explore the relationship between collectivism and the COVID-19 pandemic [ 31 – 36 ], establishing a true causal relationship requires careful consideration of relevant confounding variables, especially when relying on observational data [ 54 , 55 ]. Indeed, recent studies have shown that multiple factors could influence the severity of COVID-19 across regions [ 37 , 38 , 45 , 51 , 52 , 56 – 59 ], suggesting the need to carefully consider specific factors that might confound the association.…”