Perceived COVID-19 Threat and Reactions to Noncompliant Health-Protective Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Desired Cultural Tightness and the Moderating Role of Age

Conrad Baldner, Daniela Di Santo, Marta Viola and Antonio Pierro
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Conrad Baldner: Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Daniela Di Santo: Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Marta Viola: Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Antonio Pierro: Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is a health crisis that requires individuals to comply with many health-protective behaviors. Following the previous literature, cultural tightness has been found to be a key mechanism to increase coordination in order to mitigate collective threats (e.g., COVID-19). In this study, we test a moderated mediation model to examine whether the perceived COVID-19 threat could intensify the extent of desired tightness (i.e., a personal desire for cultural tightness), moderated by age. Subsequently, we test whether this could intensify individuals’ emotional reactions to non-compliance with COVID-19 health protective behaviors. The study relies on a cross-sectional design, with a sample of 624 participants residing in central Italy (i.e., Lazio). The data were collected from February to October 2021. Questionnaires contained self-reporting measures of the perceived COVID-19 threat, desired tightness, and personal emotional reactions to non-compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures (e.g., wearing a mask). The results confirm that the perceived COVID-19 threat is associated with an increase in the desire for cultural tightness—and that this relationship was moderated by age—and, consequently, with intolerance for noncompliance with preventive behaviors. Additionally, both direct and indirect effects of the perceived COVID-19 threat on negative emotional reactions to noncompliance were significant; this indirect effect was larger at high (+1 SD) age than at low (−1 SD) age. Overall, this research provides some insight into how people can respond to the current pandemic threat, and how this may have implications for violating rules and regulations to keep contagion under control.

Keywords: desired tightness; COVID-19; health-protective behaviors; norm violation; compliance (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: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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