Fear, anger, and COVID-19 risk: a longitudinal US study

Patrycja Sleboda, Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Alex Segrè Cohen, Caitlin Drummond Otten, Lauren Lutzke and Joseph Árvai

Journal of Risk Research, 2025, vol. 28, issue 3-4, 366-382

Abstract: Cross-sectional studies have suggested that fear and anger are different negative emotions. Specifically, greater fear has been associated with greater risk perceptions, more compliance with preventive behaviors, and possibly with more trust in experts and authorities. In contrast, greater anger has been associated with lower risk perceptions, less compliance with preventative behaviors, and possibly with lower trust in experts and authorities. Understanding these associations longitudinally, as threats change over time, is essential for effective risk communication over time. In a two-wave longitudinal study conducted in May and December of 2020 with a national sample of 671 Americans, we therefore examined associations of fear and anger with risk perceptions, trust in experts and authorities, and self-reported compliance with preventive behaviors. In longitudinal analyses, increased fear over time was significantly related to increased risk perceptions, trust in experts and authorities, and compliance with preventive behaviors. Longitudinal analyses also showed that increased anger over time was related to increased risk perceptions, less trust in experts and authorities, and compliance with fewer preventive behaviors. Only the relationship between fear and compliance with preventive behaviors held after accounting for risk perceptions and trust in experts and authorities. We discuss implications for health communications during public health crises.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2025.2485037

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