Linking Self-Reported Social Distancing to Real-World Behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

In an effort to combat COVID-19 and future pandemics, researchers have attempted to identify the factors underlying social distancing. Yet, much of this research relies on self-report measures. In two studies, we examine whether self-reported social distancing predicts objective distancing behavior. In Study 1, individuals’ self-reported social distancing predicted decreased mobility (assessed via smartphone step counts) during the COVID-19 pandemic. While participants high in self-reported distancing (+1 SD) exhibited a 33% reduction in daily step counts, those low in distancing (−1 SD) exhibited only a 3% reduction. Study 2 extended these findings to the group level. Self-reported social distancing at the U.S. state level accounted for 20% of the variance in states’ objective reduction in overall movement and visiting nonessential services (calculated via the GPS coordinates of ∼15 million people). Collectively, our results indicate that self-reported social distancing tracks actual social distancing behavior.

Does Lockdown Compliance Reflect a Latent Trait?

“…That said, we still have confidence in the validity of our self-report data given that (a) we found that associations between lockdown compliance and personality traits persisted even after controlling for social desirability, (b) lockdown compliance was highly correlated with self-reported distancing behavior, and (c) the extent to which self-reported compliance is biased appears to be small (see A. Gollwitzer, McLoughlin et al, 2021;Larsen et al, 2020).…”

Acceptance and adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures are shaped predominantly by conspiracy beliefs, mistrust in science and fear - A comparison of more than 20 psychological variables

“…Third, as in most previous studies, adherence measurements were self-reported. Future studies should confirm the results with more objective measures of actual preventive behaviour (e.g., Gollwitzer et al, 2021).…”

Testing persuasive messaging to encourage COVID-19 risk reduction

“…Future work should focus on disentangling whether specific elements of the messages are particularly effective at promoting social distancing. Third, policymakers and public health experts had repeatedly emphasized the importance of social distancing and survey respondents may have over-reported their intentions to social distance due to social desirability concerns, though past work has found that reported behavioral intentions correlate with actual behavior [ 68 ] and people’s self-reported behavior is not affected by social desirability bias [ 69 ]. Third, as the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly evolved and different behaviors, like masking or vaccination, have become more salient in public discourse, the messages that we find to be effective in summer 2020 may not be as effective as the pandemic has progressed.…”