Trust in government regarding COVID-19 and its associations with preventive health behaviour and prosocial behaviour during the pandemic: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study

Abstract

Background:The effective implementation of government policies and measures for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic requires compliance from the public. This study aimed to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of trust in government regarding COVID-19 control with the adoption of recommended health behaviours and prosocial behaviours, and potential determinants of trust in government during the pandemic.Methods: This study analysed data from the PsyCorona Survey, an international project on COVID-19 that included 23,733 participants from 23 countries (representative in age and gender distributions by country) at baseline survey and 7785 participants who also completed follow-up surveys. Specification curve analysis was used to examine concurrent associations between trust in government and self-reported behaviours. We further used structural equation model to explore potential determinants of trust in government. Multilevel linear regressions were used to examine associations between baseline trust and longitudinal behavioural changes.Results: Higher trust in government regarding COVID-19 control was significantly associated with higher adoption of health behaviours (handwashing, avoiding crowded space, self-quarantine) and prosocial behaviours in specification curve analyses (median standardised β = 0.173 and 0.229, p < 0.001). Government perceived as well organised, disseminating clear messages and knowledge on COVID-19, and perceived fairness were positively associated with trust in government (standardised β = 0.358, 0.230, 0.056, and 0.249, p < 0.01). Higher trust at baseline survey was significantly associated with lower rate of decline in health behaviours over time (p for interaction = 0.001). Conclusions:These results highlighted the importance of trust in government in the control of

Effects of Message Framing, Sender Authority, and Recipients’ Self-Reported Trait Autonomy on Endorsement of Health and Safety Measures during the Early COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Our manipulation checks indicated that the social worker was seen as more moralistic and more trustworthy than the state secretary. Trust and source credibility have been found before to enhance the effects of health-promoting messages in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [31][32][33]. In our case, however, the trustworthiness and morality of the sender did not increase overall endorsement to the items, but they did interact with autonomy by unleashing higher variation in pre-to-post rating shifts, perhaps due to the involvement of positive emotions and the reduction in fear [32][33][34].…”

Key social science priorities for long-term COVID-19 response

“…Uncertainties around the COVID-19 pandemic, and the political-economic context affect public trust in the COVID-19 response and formal and informal healthcare providers. 13 Trust in public health actors is essential for healthcare seeking for COVID-19. The public and expert discourses on COVID-19 are multiple and often conflicting, driving a crisis of legitimacy, trust and uncertainty.…”

Quality of Democracy Makes a Difference, but Not for Everyone: How Political Interest, Education, and Conceptions of Democracy Condition the Relationship Between Democratic Quality and Political Trust

“…Especially in times of crisis, political trust serves an important function for societal cohesion and compliance. For instance, recent research on the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that citizens with higher political trust are more likely to follow recommendations on social distancing (Bargain and Aminjonov, 2020;Olsen and Hjorth, 2020) and to engage in recommended health behavior (Han et al, 2020). If we want to ensure the stability and smooth functioning of democracy in times of crisis, then, it is of paramount importance to secure the trust of ordinary citizens.…”