Factors associated with public support for a lockdown measure in China during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

The lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) in China in early 2020 was considered effective by the World Health Organization and many academics around the world. At the same time, the Western media labelled these measures as draconian. This research examined the reasons why the Chinese people were willing to support such measures. Based on an online survey of 528 Chinese participants, conducted in April 2020, the results revealed that the participants' instrumental attitudes (e.g., the outcome of the lockdown), but not experiential attitudes (i.e., the experience of the lockdown), were predictive of their support for a lockdown policy. Further analysis showed that those with higher communitarian worldviews had favourable instrumental attitudes and strong support regardless of the level of the perceived severity of the virus, whereas those with lower communitarian worldviews had more favourable instrumental attitudes and policy support when perceived severity was high than when it was low. Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Drivers of young adults’ voluntary compliance with COVID-19 protective measures: results from a multi-method study

“…Specifically, (1) the more adolescents and young adults knew about the pandemic and respective protective measures, (2) the more severe they evaluated getting infected for their health, and (3) the more positively they evaluated the consequences of COVID-19 protective measures, the stronger their intention to behave in the recommended way-with knowledge indirectly affecting compliance through attitude. The findings are in line with previous research, demonstrating that instrumental attitudes [30,34], risk perceptions [31], and knowledge [43,44] are essential levers of COVID-19-related health behavior. Regarding risk perceptions, this article supports previous findings indicating that perceived severity is a significantly stronger predictor of compliance behaviour than perceived susceptibility (see also 41).…”

“…People who believe in conspiracy theories and misinformation might not be reached with messages addressing knowledge anymore. However, not knowledge but the instrumental attitude was the strongest predictor of intention to comply, whereby the effect was even stronger in the group of non-compliers (for similar findings, see [30,34]). Thus, messages promoting compliance with protective measures should strongly focus on positive adherence outcomes.…”

“…It has been shown that compliance with social distancing was positively influenced by positive attitudes toward the behavior, a strong perceived behavioral control, and positive subjective norms [ 27 , 33 ]. In addition, it has been shown that instrumental attitudes are a stronger predictor of the intention to comply than experiential attitudes [ 30 , 34 ].…”

The effect of duration of youth/parent communication on depression and anxiety during COVID-19 isolation in China

“…In summary, China implemented strict prevention and control measures in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. The public stayed at home, controlling the spread of the epidemic and protecting public health ( Chen et al, 2021 ; Wang, 2022 ). On the other hand, isolation measures hindered communication and interaction, resulting in alienation and loneliness ( Ganesan et al, 2021 ; Lu et al, 2022 ).…”

Time to Lift up COVID-19 Restrictions? Public Support towards Living with the Virus Policy and Associated Factors among Hong Kong General Public

“…Currently, most of the extant literature on attitudes towards government COVID-19 measures focused on public support of lockdown or control measures aiming towards reducing the spread of the disease and are mostly based on socio-demographic and cognitive factors. For example, a study among Chinese participants reported that factors from the Theory of Planned Behavior (i.e., attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control) were associated with public attitudes towards COVID-19 lockdown policy, illustrating the important role of risk perceptions in policy support [ 24 ]. On the other hand, greater belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories [ 25 ], lower income and those whose income or job opportunities were affected by such measures were more likely to show oppositions to the restriction measures [ 26 , 27 ].…”