To comply or not to comply: a latent profile analysis of behaviors and attitudes during a COVID-19 pandemic

Release date: July 29, 2021

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255268

Commentary

This study investigates the reasons for compliance with protective behaviors against COVID-19 by identifying complex patterns of compliance and integrating multiple psychological paradigms and epidemiology to comprehensively investigate underlying psychological differences.

The study included 1575 participants from Australia, the US, the UK, and Canada, and showed behavior, attitudes, personality, cognitive/decision-making ability, resilience, adaptability, coping, political and cultural factors, and information consumption in the early stages of the pandemic.

Two broad groups were identified using latent profile analysis, with the compliant group (90%) reporting greater concern and perceiving protective measures to be effective.

The non-compliant group (about 10%) perceived problems.

The non-compliant group showed lower numbers for cooperation and cultural closeness and laxity, but were found to be more outgoing and reactive. People in this group were characterized by using more maladaptive coping strategies, checking/trusting the news less, and using less official sources of information. And the women showed higher compliance than the men.

Thus, understanding early pandemic behavior provides an important platform to inform future research, public health policy, and targeted behavior change interventions.