Compliance with COVID-19 public health guidelines: an attitude-behaviour gap bridged by personal concern and distance to conspiracy ideation

Abstract

Objective: This study examined predictors of compliance with public health guidelines to curb transmission of COVID-19. Design: Applying an exploratory longitudinal design, participants (N = 431) from Germany and Austria completed surveys in April/May 2020 (T1) and July/August 2020 (T2). Measures: Three outcome measures operationalised compliance with public health guidelines at T2: self-reported adherence (behavioural), agreement and opposition (attitudinal). At T1, demographics, perceived distress (PHQ-4, crisis of meaning), resources (self-control, meaningfulness), locus of control, conspiracy mentality and social media use were assessed. At T2, situational variables were added (person at risk, infection of close person, fear of infection, COVID-19 stress). Temporal shifts from T1 to T2 were examined as complementary information. Results: An attitude-behaviour gap at T2 was identified, as agreement with and opposition to the guidelines were only modestly correlated with adherence to them. Measures of personal concern (fear of infection, person at risk) were associated with both adherence and positive attitudes towards the measures. COVID-19 stress and conspiracy mentality predicted negative attitudes, but not adherence. Age predicted adherence positively, social media use negatively. Conclusion: The findings support the significance of personal concern for compliance with public health guidelines and suggest a critical impact of social media use and conspiracy mentality.