Open Access BASE2022
National identity predicts public health support during a global pandemic
Van Bavel, Jay J; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Capraro, Valerio; Sjåstad, Hallgeir; Nezlek, John B; Pavlović, Tomislav; Alfano, Mark; Gelfand, Michele J; Azevedo, Flavio; Birtel, Michèle D; Cislak, Aleksandra; Lockwood, Patricia L; Ross, Robert Malcolm; Abts, Koen; Agadullina, Elena; Aruta, John Jamir Benzon; Besharati, Sahba Nomvula; Bor, Alexander; Choma, Becky L; Crabtree, Charles David; Cunningham, William A; De, Koustav; Ejaz, Waqas; Elbaek, Christian T; Findor, Andrej; Flichtentrei, Daniel; Franc, Renata; Gjoneska, Biljana; Gruber, June; Gualda, Estrella; Horiuchi, Yusaku; Huynh, Toan Luu Duc; Ibanez, Augustin; Imran, Mostak Ahamed; Israelashvili, Jacob; Jasko, Katarzyna; Kantorowicz, Jaroslaw; Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, Elena; Krouwel, André; Laakasuo, Michael; Lamm, Claus; Leygue, Caroline; Lin, Ming-Jen; Mansoor, Mohammad Sabbir; Marie, Antoine; Mayiwar, Lewend; Mazepus, Honorata; McHugh, Cillian; Minda, John Paul; Mitkidis, Panagiotis; Olsson, Andreas; Otterbring, Tobias; Packer, Dominic J; Perry, Anat; Petersen, Michael Bang; Puthillam, Arathy; Riaño-Moreno, Julián C; Rothmund, Tobias; Santamaría-García, Hernando; Schmid, Petra C; Stoyanov, Drozdstoy; Tewari, Shruti; Todosijević, Bojan; Tsakiris, Manos; Tung, Hans H; Umbreș, Radu G; Vanags, Edmunds; Vlasceanu, Madalina; Vonasch, Andrew; Yucel, Meltem; Zhang, Yucheng; Abad, Mohcine; Adler, Eli; Akrawi, Narin; Mdarhri, Hamza Alaoui; Amara, Hanane; Amodio, David M; Antazo, Benedict G; Apps, Matthew; Ay, F. Ceren; Ba, Mouhamadou Hady; Barbosa, Sergio; Bastian, Brock; Berg, Anton; Bernal-Zárate, Maria P; Bernstein, Michael; Białek, Michał; Bilancini, Ennio; Bogatyreva, Natalia; Boncinelli, Leonardo; Booth, Jonathan E; Borau, Sylvie; Buchel, Ondrej; Cameron, C. Daryl; Carvalho, Chrissie F; Celadin, Tatiana; Cerami, Chiara; Chalise, Hom Nath; Cheng, Xiaojun; Cian, Luca; Cockcroft, Kate; Conway, Jane; Córdoba-Delgado, Mateo Andres; Crespi, Chiara; Crouzevialle, Marie; Cutler, Jo; Cypryańska, Marzena; Dabrowska, Justyna; Daniels, Michael A; Davis, Victoria H; Dayley, Pamala N; Delouvee, Sylvain; Denkovski, Ognjan; Dezecache, Guillaume; Dhaliwal, Nathan A; Diato, Alelie B; Di Paolo, Roberto; Drosinou, Marianna; Dulleck, Uwe; Ekmanis, Jānis; Ertan, Arhan S; Etienne, Tom W; Farhana, Hapsa Hossain; Farkhari, Fahima; Farmer, Harry; Fenwick, Ali; Fidanovski, Kristijan; Flew, Terry; Fraser, Shona; Frempong, Raymond Boadi; Fugelsang, Jonathan A; Gale, Jessica; Garcia-Navarro, E. Begoña; Garladinne, Prasad; Ghajjou, Oussama; Gkinopoulos, Theofilos; Gray, Kurt; Griffin, Siobhán M; Gronfeldt, Bjarki; Gümren, Mert; Gurung, Ranju Lama; Halperin, Eran; Harris, Elizabeth; Herzon, Volo; Hruška, Matej; Huang, Guanxiong; Hudecek, Matthias F. C; Isler, Ozan; Jangard, Simon; Jørgensen, Frederik J; Kachanoff, Frank; Kahn, John; Dangol, Apsara Katuwal; Keudel, Oleksandra; Koppel, Lina; Koverola, Mika; Kubin, Emily; Kunnari, Anton; Kutiyski, Yordan; Laguna, Oscar; Leota, Josh; Lermer, Eva; Levy, Jonathan; Levy, Neil; Li, Chunyun; Long, Elizabeth U; Longoni, Chiara; Maglić, Marina; McCashin, Darragh; Metcalf, Alexander L; Mikloušić, Igor; El Mimouni, Soulaimane; Miura, Asako; Molina-Paredes, Juliana; Monroy-Fonseca, César; Morales-Marente, Elena; Moreau, David; Muda, Rafał; Myer, Annalisa; Nash, Kyle; Nesh-Nash, Tarik; Nitschke, Jonas P; Nurse, Matthew S; Ohtsubo, Yohsuke; Oldemburgo de Mello, Victoria; O'Madagain, Cathal; Onderco, Michal; Palacios-Galvez, M. Soledad; Palomäki, Jussi; Pan, Yafeng; Papp, Zsófia; Pärnamets, Philip; Paruzel-Czachura, Mariola; Pavlović, Zoran; Payán-Gómez, César; Perander, Silva; Pitman, Michael Mark; Prasad, Rajib; Pyrkosz-Pacyna, Joanna; Rathje, Steve; Raza, Ali; Rêgo, Gabriel G; Rhee, Kasey; Robertson, Claire E; Rodríguez-Pascual, Iván; Saikkonen, Teemu; Salvador-Ginez, Octavio; Sampaio, Waldir M; Santi, Gaia C; Santiago-Tovar, Natalia; Savage, David; Scheffer, Julian A; Schönegger, Philipp; Schultner, David T; Schutte, Enid M; Scott, Andy; Sharma, Madhavi; Sharma, Pujan; Skali, Ahmed; Stadelmann, David; Stafford, Clara Alexandra; Stanojević, Dragan; Stefaniak, Anna; Sternisko, Anni; Stoica, Augustin; Stoyanova, Kristina K; Strickland, Brent; Sundvall, Jukka; Thomas, Jeffrey P; Tinghög, Gustav; Torgler, Benno; Traast, Iris J; Tucciarelli, Raffaele; Tyrala, Michael; Ungson, Nick D; Uysal, Mete S; Van Lange, Paul A. M; van Prooijen, Jan-Willem; van Rooy, Dirk; Västfjäll, Daniel; Verkoeijen, Peter; Vieira, Joana B; von Sikorski, Christian; Walker, Alexander Cameron; Watermeyer, Jennifer; Wetter, Erik; Whillans, Ashley; Willardt, Robin; Wohl, Michael J. A; Wójcik, Adrian Dominik; Wu, Kaidi; Yamada, Yuki; Yilmaz, Onurcan; Yogeeswaran, Kumar; Ziemer, Carolin-Theresa; Zwaan, Rolf A; Boggio, Paulo S
Abstract
Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated selfreported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = −0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics.
