Scientific Reports (May 2021)

Lives versus Livelihoods? Perceived economic risk has a stronger association with support for COVID-19 preventive measures than perceived health risk

  • Claudia F. Nisa,
  • Jocelyn J. Bélanger,
  • Daiane G. Faller,
  • Nicholas R. Buttrick,
  • Jochen O. Mierau,
  • Maura M. K. Austin,
  • Birga M. Schumpe,
  • Edyta M. Sasin,
  • Maximilian Agostini,
  • Ben Gützkow,
  • Jannis Kreienkamp,
  • Georgios Abakoumkin,
  • Jamilah Hanum Abdul Khaiyom,
  • Vjollca Ahmedi,
  • Handan Akkas,
  • Carlos A. Almenara,
  • Mohsin Atta,
  • Sabahat Cigdem Bagci,
  • Sima Basel,
  • Edona Berisha Kida,
  • Allan B. I. Bernardo,
  • Phatthanakit Chobthamkit,
  • Hoon-Seok Choi,
  • Mioara Cristea,
  • Sára Csaba,
  • Kaja Damnjanović,
  • Ivan Danyliuk,
  • Arobindu Dash,
  • Daniela Di Santo,
  • Karen M. Douglas,
  • Violeta Enea,
  • Gavan Fitzsimons,
  • Alexandra Gheorghiu,
  • Ángel Gómez,
  • Joanna Grzymala-Moszczynska,
  • Ali Hamaidia,
  • Qing Han,
  • Mai Helmy,
  • Joevarian Hudiyana,
  • Bertus F. Jeronimus,
  • Ding-Yu Jiang,
  • Veljko Jovanović,
  • Željka Kamenov,
  • Anna Kende,
  • Shian-Ling Keng,
  • Tra Thi Thanh Kieu,
  • Yasin Koc,
  • Kamila Kovyazina,
  • Inna Kozytska,
  • Joshua Krause,
  • Arie W. Kruglanski,
  • Anton Kurapov,
  • Maja Kutlaca,
  • Nóra Anna Lantos,
  • Edward P. Lemay,
  • Cokorda Bagus Jaya Lesmana,
  • Winnifred R. Louis,
  • Adrian Lueders,
  • Najma Iqbal Malik,
  • Anton Martinez,
  • Kira O. McCabe,
  • Jasmina Mehulić,
  • Mirra Noor Milla,
  • Idris Mohammed,
  • Erica Molinario,
  • Manuel Moyano,
  • Hayat Muhammad,
  • Silvana Mula,
  • Hamdi Muluk,
  • Solomiia Myroniuk,
  • Reza Najafi,
  • Boglárka Nyúl,
  • Paul A. O’Keefe,
  • Jose Javier Olivas Osuna,
  • Evgeny N. Osin,
  • Joonha Park,
  • Gennaro Pica,
  • Antonio Pierro,
  • Jonas Rees,
  • Anne Margit Reitsema,
  • Elena Resta,
  • Marika Rullo,
  • Michelle K. Ryan,
  • Adil Samekin,
  • Pekka Santtila,
  • Heyla A. Selim,
  • Michael Vicente Stanton,
  • Samiah Sultana,
  • Robbie M. Sutton,
  • Eleftheria Tseliou,
  • Akira Utsugi,
  • Jolien Anne van Breen,
  • Caspar J. Van Lissa,
  • Kees Van Veen,
  • Michelle R. vanDellen,
  • Alexandra Vázquez,
  • Robin Wollast,
  • Victoria Wai-lan Yeung,
  • Somayeh Zand,
  • Iris Lav Žeželj,
  • Bang Zheng,
  • Andreas Zick,
  • Claudia Zúñiga,
  • N. Pontus Leander

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88314-4
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

Read online

Abstract This paper examines whether compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures is motivated by wanting to save lives or save the economy (or both), and which implications this carries to fight the pandemic. National representative samples were collected from 24 countries (N = 25,435). The main predictors were (1) perceived risk to contract coronavirus, (2) perceived risk to suffer economic losses due to coronavirus, and (3) their interaction effect. Individual and country-level variables were added as covariates in multilevel regression models. We examined compliance with various preventive health behaviors and support for strict containment policies. Results show that perceived economic risk consistently predicted mitigation behavior and policy support—and its effects were positive. Perceived health risk had mixed effects. Only two significant interactions between health and economic risk were identified—both positive.