Project description

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced humanity to fundamentally change its behavior. Worldwide governments have adopted measures such as stay-at-home orders and social distancing rules that were essential to slow the spread of the disease. During the first wave of the disease, most authorities adopted a combination of stay-at-home and social distancing rules asking people to refrain from going outside (safe for certain defined essential activities) and to keep a safe distance from people outside their own household. The result has been an unprecedented behavioral change across most of the world, and one that came at tremendous social and economic costs, as many lost their jobs, education was severely disrupted, and ordinary life was completely upended.

The project studies what shaped compliance with the Covid-19 mitigation measures. The project conducted surveys in the US, Netherlands, UK, and Israel in early April, and is conducting follow-up surveys in the Netherlands and the US from May to July and new surveys in Hong Kong and mainland China.

The research is supported by an NWO-ZonMW Covid-19 rapid response grant. It is carried out by Malouke Kuiper, Megan Brownlee, Shuyu Huang, Emmeke Kooistra, Noor de Bruijn, Chris Reinders Folmer, Elke Olthuis, Benjamin van Rooij (all C-LAB), Adam Fine (Arizona State University), Yuval Feldman (Bar-Ilan University), Carlos Lo (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Liu Ning (Hong Kong City University), Wang Qiliang, and Li Na (both from Yunnan University).

Relevant publications and works in progress:

• Van Rooij, B., de Bruijn, A. L., Reinders Folmer, C. P., Kooistra, E., Kuiper, M. E., Brownlee, M., . . . Fine, A. (2020). Compliance with COVID-19 Mitigation Measures in the United States Working Paper posted on PsyArXiv https://psyarxiv.com/qymu3.
• Kooistra, E., Reinders Folmer, C. P., Olthuis, E., Brownlee, M., Kuiper, M. E., Fine, A., & Van Rooij, B. (2020). Mitigating COVID-19 in a Nationally Representative UKSample: Personal Abilities and Obligation to Obey the Law Shape Compliance with Mitigation Measures. Working Paper posted on PsyArXiv  https://psyarxiv.com/zuc23.
• Kuiper, M. E., de Bruijn, A. L., Reinders Folmer, C. P., Olthuis, E., Brownlee, M., Kooistra, E., . . . Van Rooij, B. (2020). The intelligent lockdown: Compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures in the Netherlands. Working Paper posted on PsyArXiv  https://psyarxiv.com/5wdb3.