Understanding the influence of contextual factors and individual social capital on American public mask wearing in response to COVID–19

Abstract

The COVID–19 pandemic poses unprecedented risks to the health and well-being of the entire population in the U.S. To control the pandemic, it is imperative for individuals to take precautionary behaviors (e.g., wearing a mask, keeping social distance, washing hands frequently, etc.). The factors that influence individual behavioral response thus warrants a close examination. Using survey data for respondents from 10 states merged with state-level data, our study represents a pioneering effort to reveal contextual and individual social capital factors that explain public mask wearing in response to COVID–19. Findings of logistic multilevel regression show that the COVID–19 death rate and political control of government at the state level along with one's social capital at the individual level altogether influence whether people decide to wear face masks. These findings contribute to the rapidly growing literature and have policy implications for mitigating the pandemic's devastating impact on the American public.

Understanding American Public Support for COVID-19 Risk Mitigation: The Role of Political Orientation, Socio-Demographic characteristics, Personal Concern, and Experience, the United States, 2020

“…A rapidly growing number of studies have been dedicated to reveal the geographic pattern [ 3 ] of and socio demographic differences of public response to COVID-19 [ 4 , 5 ]. Some of the studies attribute the polarizing public response to COVID-19 to political orientation.…”

A Longitudinal Analysis of Handwashing and Mask-Wearing During COVID-19

“…The evidence supports Social Determination Theory (SDT), particularly in relation to how SDT explains the link between political affiliation and motivation to enact behavioral change. Previous research has demonstrated a person's political affiliation influences their decision to adopt health preventive behaviors (Allcott et al, 2020;Hao et al, 2021), as individuals desire approval from others in their political ingroup. The results of the current study add to this body of research by demonstrating that during a period of heightened attention to political ideologies (a national election), one's adherence to a particular ideology heightens an individual's behavior response.…”

“…In empirical analyses of the politicizing of preventive behaviors, research has consistently shown Republicans are far less likely to comply with "stay-at-home" orders and handwashing as preventive measures. They are also less likely to engage in social distancing, but more likely to believe misinformation about preventive behaviors (Allcott et al, 2020;Clinton et al, 2020;Hao et al, 2021). Hornik et al (2021) examined misinformation and found that belief in misinformation is negatively related to mask-wearing.…”

Understanding the Effects of Individual and State-Level Factors on American Public Response to COVID-19

“…1 However, not all Americans perceive the threat of COVID-19 or are willing to change their routine behaviors to mitigate the transmission of the virus. [2][3][4][5][6] Therefore, it is significant to identify the underlying factors that can motivate the public to slow the transmission of the pandemic. 7,8 In this study, we aim to investigate multilevel determinants of American public response to COVID-19.…”

“…At the individual level, we select variables by following previous studies on this topic and expect these variables to be comprehensive to represent one's demographic, socioeconomic, and political background. 2,3,5 These variables are presented in Figure 1 with state-level variables on the top of the diagram and individual-level variables at the bottom.…”