Being Nice or Being Scared? Personality Traits and Threat of COVID-19 as Predictors of Non-Normative Health Beliefs and Behaviors during Second Wave of Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to examine factors related to questionable health behavior, such as avoiding recommended preventive guidelines. The aim of this paper was to explore whether the behavior reflecting active avoiding of preventive measures against COVID-19 (curfew regulations, hygiene, facial masks, and social distancing) was best predicted by personality traits, health beliefs or feelings of threat. Thousand and twenty-four adults (486 men, 536 women) aged between 18 – 81 years participated in the study, which was run in early November 2020, when second wave in Slovakia started to gain momentum and the strict lockdown was issued. Results showed that health threat was connected with having less questionable health beliefs, while economic threat was connected with having more questionable health beliefs, and together these factors were the strongest predictors of avoiding the preventive regulations. Our results highlight the fact that one year after the outbreak, COVID-19 pandemic is no longer only (if it ever was) a health threat. The shift from health focus to economic and socio-political threat should not be taken lightly, as it has implications for adherence to preventive measures against COVID-19 and people’s beliefs regarding the pandemic.