Why people were less compliant with public health regulations during the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak

The role of trust in governmental organizations, future anxiety, fatigue, and Covid-19 risk perception

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21628056
AutoresCristiano Scandurra (0000-0003-1790-3997, Federico II University Hospital, autor de correspondencia), Vincenzo Bochicchio (0000-0003-2788-1381, University of Calabria), Pasquale Dolce (0000-0002-7588-6067, Federico II University Hospital), Paolo Valerio (0000-0001-5454-3930, Federico II University Hospital), Benedetta Muzii (0000-0003-0299-497X, Department of Agricultural Sciences), Nelson Mauro Maldonato (0000-0002-6401-2305, Federico II University Hospital)
Año2023
Volumen42
Número9
Páginas7403-7413
Fecha de publicación2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCurrent Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1046-1310 • E-ISSN: 1936-4733
EditorialSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12144-021-02059-x
PMID34276170
OpenAlexW3178954246
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas24
Referencias citadas70

Trust in governmental organizations is a crucial factor in terms of encouraging people to conform to public health regulations, such as those recommended to slow down the spread of SARS-CoV-2. However, trust in governmental organizations tends to decline over time, reducing the compliance with public health regulations. This study aimed at exploring, first, the role of future anxiety and fatigue as serial mediators of the relationship between trust in governmental organizations and protective behaviors, and, secondly, the role of Covid-19 risk perception as a moderator between fatigue and protective behaviors. A total of 948 Italian participants (302 males and 646 females), ranged from 18 to 80 years ( M = 27.20, SD = 11.01), answered an online survey during the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak. A moderated serial mediation model was performed using a structural equation modeling. The results indicate that: (1) a higher trust in Italian governmental organizations was associated with a greater compliance in terms of adopting protective behaviors; (2) a lower trust in Italian governmental organizations increased anxiety about the future which, in turn, raised levels of fatigue, leading, finally, to a reduction in the levels of protective behaviors; and (3) as the perceived risk related to Covid-19 increased, the effect of fatigue on protective behaviors decreased. The findings of the current study may provide indications for public health policy on how to increase compliance with the recommended behaviors to be adopted in order to decrease the spread of the SARS-CoV-2

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Anxiety · Disease · Environmental health · Outbreak · Pandemic · Political science · Psychiatry · Public health · Public relations · Behavioral Health and Interventions · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology · Virology