The Impact of Positivity and Parochial Altruism on Protective Behaviours during the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy

Claudio Singh Solorzano, Maria Serena Panasiti, Alessandra Di Pucchio and Caterina Grano ()
Additional contact information
Claudio Singh Solorzano: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy
Maria Serena Panasiti: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy
Alessandra Di Pucchio: Training Office, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
Caterina Grano: Department of Psychology, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-11

Abstract: Implementation of COVID-19 protective behaviours, such as social distancing or frequent hand washing during the lockdown, was critical to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the effect of positivity and parochial altruism on implementing COVID-19 health-protective behaviours during the Italian lockdown. A sample of 460 participants completed an online questionnaire that included demographic measures, Positivity Scale and COVID-19 measures of health-protective behaviours. To measure parochial altruism, we used a hypothetical dictator game played with others who could vary in their social distance from the participants. Results showed that participants in the hypothetical game gave more money to parents and siblings than to best friends, cousins, neighbours, and strangers. Furthermore, both positivity and parochial altruism (more altruism toward close vs. distant people) were positively associated with implementing hygiene behaviours but not with social distancing. Finally, mediation analysis showed that increases in parochial altruism mediated the effect of positivity on hygiene behaviour. These findings extend knowledge about the factors beyond the implementation of COVID-19 health-protective behaviours during a lockdown situation.

Keywords: COVID-19; positivity; parochial altruism; protective behaviours; social distancing behaviours; hygiene behaviours (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10153/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10153/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10153-:d:889694

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().