Trust in Government Moderates the Association between Fear of COVID-19 as Well as Empathic Concern and Preventive Behaviour

Karakulak, ArzuTepe, BeyzaDimitrova, RadosvetaAbdelrahman, MohamedAkaliyski, PlamenAlaseel, RanaAlkamali, Yousuf Abdulqader2024-11-012024-11-0120232731-9121https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-023-00046-5Giolo, Suely Ruiz/0000-0003-1185-7483; Karakulak, Arzu/0000-0003-0459-7759; Stogianni, Maria/0000-0002-3238-4331; Orellana Calderón, Carlos Iván/0000-0002-4936-867X; Kabir, Russell/0000-0002-9853-1314; Avanesyan, Hrant Grant/0000-0002-5987-7830; Yu, Yue/0000-0003-0505-7084; Bartoluci, Sunčica/0000-0001-5841-9400; Islam, Saiful/0000-0003-3979-2423; Alonso Palacio, Luz Marina/0000-0002-7935-8042; Bolatov, Aidos/0000-0002-5390-4623; Lizarzaburu Aguinaga, Danny Alonso/0000-0002-1384-4603; Kauyzbay, Zhumaly/0000-0002-6368-8506; Tepe, Beyza/0000-0003-0246-4995; Buzea, Carmen/0000-0003-2460-0433; Sultana, T Sadia/0000-0002-3991-4198; Gjoneska, Biljana/0000-0003-1200-6672; Shukla, Shanu/0000-0002-5602-8462; Yıldırım, Ebrar/0000-0002-5202-6662; Peralta, Eddy/0000-0002-6119-8597; Abdelrahman, Mohamed/0000-0001-8739-1670; Formighieri Giordani, Rubia Carla/0000-0001-5698-7981With the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioural scientists aimed to illuminate reasons why people comply with (or not) large-scale cooperative activities. Here we investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours in a sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease with support towards preventive COVID-19 behaviours would be moderated by trust in the government. Results suggest that the association between fear of disease and support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours was strongest when trust in the government was weak (both at individual- and country-level). Conversely, the association with empathic prosocial concern was strongest when trust in the government was high, but this moderation was only found at individual-level scores of governmental trust. We discuss how motivations may be shaped by socio-cultural context, and outline how findings may contribute to a better understanding of collective action during global crises.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessTrust in Government Moderates the Association between Fear of COVID-19 as Well as Empathic Concern and Preventive BehaviourArticle10.1038/s44271-023-00046-5