The Conditional Effect of Scientific Knowledge and Gender on Support for COVID-19 Government Containment Policies in a Partisan America

Algara, Carlos; Fuller, Sam; Hare, Christopher

doi:10.1017/s1743923x20000458

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In response, local and state governments across the United States implemented social distancing measures to control disease contagion (Gupta et al., 2020). However, the willingness to comply with government mandates has varied significantly along partisan lines within the mass public (Algara, Fuller, and Hare, 2020). Much of the existing literature emphasizes that party identification is a potent and powerful force that shapes social distancing behavior and rhetoric (e.g., Grossman et al., 2020; Green et al., 2020).…”

Section: Governmental Social Distancing Recommendations During the Comentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interactive Effects of Scientific Knowledge and Gender on COVID‐19 Social Distancing Compliance

Algara

Fuller

Hare

et al. 2020

Social Science Quarterly

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Objective. In this research note, we examine the role scientific knowledge and gender plays in citizen responses to governmental social distancing recommendations. Methods. Using two waves of the American Trends Panel Survey and a measure of latent scientific knowledge, we test whether scientific knowledge is associated with comfort in participating in social activities during the COVID-19 pandemic within both the full U.S. population and the two major political parties. Results. In both the general population and within the Democratic Party, we find that women are generally more likely to use their scientific knowledge to inform their level of comfort with social activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion. These findings shed light on how knowledge and gender intersect to drive compliance with government recommendations and policies during a public health crisis in a deeply partisan America.

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Section: Governmental Social Distancing Recommendations During the Comentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interactive Effects of Scientific Knowledge and Gender on COVID‐19 Social Distancing Compliance

Algara

Fuller

Hare

et al. 2020

Social Science Quarterly

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“…Researchers have received different results regarding trust in information sources (Al-Rasheed, 2020;Khosravi, 2020). For example, as to the information provided by scientists on the safety of vaccines, the results of the study show that women show lower confidence (Latkin et al, 2021), while another study found that it was women who had higher confidence in evidence-based information (Algara et al, 2020;Latkin et al, 2021). One more study finds that younger people with higher education have more confidence in evidence-based information, but there is no gender difference (Borgonovi and Pokropek, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model

et al. 2021

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Background: While COVID-19 has rapidly spread around the world, and vaccines are not widely available to the general population, the World Health Organization outlines preventive behavior as the most effective way to limit the rapid spread of the virus. Preventive behavior is associated with a number of factors that both encourage and discourage prevention.Aim: The aim of this research was to study COVID-19 threat appraisal, fear of COVID-19, trust in COVID-19 information sources, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and the relationship of socio-demographic variables (gender, age, level of education, place of residence, and employment status) to COVID-19 preventive behavior.Methods: The data originate from a national cross-sectional online survey (N = 2,608) undertaken in July 2020. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.Results: COVID-19 threat appraisal, trust in COVID-19 information sources, and fear of COVID-19 are all significant predictors of COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Together they explain 26.7% of the variance of this variable. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs significantly negatively predict COVID-19 threat appraisal (R2 = 0.206) and trust in COVID-19 information sources (R2 = 0.190). COVID-19 threat appraisal contributes significantly and directly to the explanation of the fear of COVID-19 (R2 = 0.134). Directly, as well as mediated by COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, threat appraisal predicts trust in COVID-19 information sources (R2 = 0.190). The relationship between COVID-19 threat appraisal and COVID-19 preventive behaviors is partially mediated by fear of COVID-19 (indirect effect 28.6%) and trust in information sources (15.8%). Socio-demographic variables add very little in prediction of COVID-19 preventive behavior.Conclusions: The study results demonstrate that COVID-19 threat appraisal is the most important factor associated with COVID-19 preventive behavior. Those Latvian residents with higher COVID-19 threat appraisal, experienced higher levels of fear of COVID-19, had more trust in COVID-19 information sources, and were more actively involved in following COVID-19 preventive behaviors. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs negatively predict COVID-19 threat appraisal and trust in COVID-19 information sources, but not the COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Socio-demographic factors do not play an important role here.

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“…Support for and compliance with these policies, evidenced by widespread anti-“lockdown” and anti-mask protests/behaviors and surveys conducted by Pew Research Center [ 5 ], is highly variable, with many heavily in favor and nearly as many heavily opposed. Recent work has attempted to parse out the likely determinants of support and compliance, examining influences such as gender, partisanship, and scientific knowledge and trust [ 6 , 7 ]; race/ethnicity, conspiracy theory beliefs, and COVID-19 knowledge [ 8 ]; and local coronavirus incidence and threat perceptions [ 9 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of race and scientific trust on support for COVID-19 social distancing measures in the United States

2021

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Pundits and academics across disciplines note that the human toll brought forth by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States (U.S.) is fundamentally unequal for communities of color. Standing literature on public health posits that one of the chief predictors of racial disparity in health outcomes is a lack of institutional trust among minority communities. Furthermore, in our own county-level analysis from the U.S., we find that counties with higher percentages of Black and Hispanic residents have had vastly higher cumulative deaths from COVID-19. In light of this standing literature and our own analysis, it is critical to better understand how to mitigate or prevent these unequal outcomes for any future pandemic or public health emergency. Therefore, we assess the claim that raising institutional trust, primarily scientific trust, is key to mitigating these racial inequities. Leveraging a new, pre-pandemic measure of scientific trust, we find that trust in science, unlike trust in politicians or the media, significantly raises support for COVID-19 social distancing policies across racial lines. Our findings suggest that increasing scientific trust is essential to garnering support for public health policies that lessen the severity of the current, and potentially a future, pandemic.

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The Conditional Effect of Scientific Knowledge and Gender on Support for COVID-19 Government Containment Policies in a Partisan America

Cited by 6 publications

References 19 publications

The Interactive Effects of Scientific Knowledge and Gender on COVID‐19 Social Distancing Compliance

The Interactive Effects of Scientific Knowledge and Gender on COVID‐19 Social Distancing Compliance

Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model

The role of race and scientific trust on support for COVID-19 social distancing measures in the United States

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