Acceptance of Society-Level and Individual-Level Preventive Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic among College Students in Three Societies

Abstract

Drawing from social domain theory, this study examined people’s evaluation of society-level disease-prevention regulations (e.g., school closure) and personal precautions (e.g., wearing a facemask) during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, as assessed in Spring, 2020. Participants from three countries (United States [US], China, and Japan; N = 528) rated their acceptance of a range of society-level and individual-level preventive measures and then indicated their main reasons for these ratings, which were categorized as moral, societal, personal, and prudential based on social domain theory. Consistent with this theoretical framework, we found both similarities and differences across the three societies. Specifically, we found that, across the three societies, moral considerations predicted higher acceptance of society-level preventive measures, whereas personal considerations predicted lower acceptance of both society-level and individual-level preventive measures. However, a stronger link between societal considerations and higher acceptance of society-level preventive measures was found for Chinese participants than for US and Japanese participants.

Impact of Societal Culture on Covid-19 Morbidity and Mortality across Countries

“…Regarding cultural dimensions, the findings of this study largely converge with the recent observation (Zhu et al, 2021) that collectivism and power distance could induce mass-scale behaviors necessary to stem the ongoing pandemic. Researchers consistently find collectivism helpful in containing pandemics historically (e.g., Fincher et al, 2008;Thornhill & Fincher, 2014) and individualism doing the opposite (Morand & Walther, 2018).…”

“…Besides inducing personal sacrifices in the service of society, institutional collectivism also seems to strengthen the appreciation for such altruistic and prosocial actions (Mueller et al, 2012). These features could turn out to be helpful in mitigating the ill-effects of the ongoing pandemic, as evidence in the context of Covid-19 indicates (Zhu et al, 2021). It is noteworthy here that civic cooperation and general belief in people's best intentions may not translate into prosocial motivation and behavior required to contain Covid-19 pandemic as Romano et al (2021) find.…”

“…These features-strong welfare state, trust in government and collaboration across institutions-seem to closely resemble what researchers (e.g., Gelfand et al, 2004;Parboteeah et al, 2005;Realo et al, 2008) find in societies with higher levels institutional collectivism. In the light of growing consensus that successful mitigation of Covid-19 requires coordinated and sustained collective action at a larger scale (e.g., Gelfand et al, 2021;Kandel et al, 2020;Mayer et al, 2020;Zhu et al, 2021), it seems that these features of institutional collectivism maybe quite helpful. They may provide the ingredients necessary to coalesce voluntary and altruistic actions of people, besides facilitating sustained and coordinated actions across different agencies of state in the face of a collective crisis like Covid-19 pandemic.…”

“…As researchers highlight, the opposite of such tendencies seems to have proven quite costly in the wake of Covid-19 (Bazzi et al, 2021;Gelfand et al, 2021). Compliance and conformity during the ongoing pandemic, as researchers (e.g., Cao et al, 2020;Mayer et al, 2020;Zhu et al, 2021) point out, could be helpful in checking its spread. And once people do get infected, following the strict regimen of care suggested by doctors is essential for recovery.…”

The Role of Collectivism–Individualism in Attitudes Toward Compliance and Psychological Responses During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The results showed a high mean score of attitudes toward compliance, suggesting that the restrictive measures were generally endorsed by Chinese participants. In a recent cross-cultural research on individuals' evaluation of COVID-19 preventive measures, Chinese participants indicated the highest acceptance of society-level preventative measures, but not individual-level preventative measures, compared to their Japanese and US counterparts (Zhu et al, 2021). Because the Chinese government used strict isolation measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, the majority of Chinese citizens cooperated to practice social distancing behaviorally.…”