Nichteinhaltung von Präventionsmaßnahmen gegen COVID-19 Infektionen in Deutschland verstehen
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
To gain a deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of violations of COVID-19 prevention measures in Germany, this project examined decisions to engage in behaviors, such as wearing masks, restricting contacts, or complying with quarantine. It also explored the reasons behind non-adherence to such measures as well as individuals' responses when faced with non-adherence by others. To these aims, we applied theories that explain perceptions and behavior through the interplay of personal (e.g., being at risk of infection) and situational characteristics (e.g., behavior of others). We conducted a three-wave online panel survey with a sample representative of the population in Germany (with quotas for age (18-75), gender, education, and federal state), completed by 12,183 respondents (8,607 and 7,930 in waves two and three). We assessed person-level data to gain information on actual preventive behaviors, personal characteristics (e.g., perceived susceptibility and severity of infection, vaccination and immunization status, selfreported knowledge about COVID-19, information frequency, self-control, moral perceptions, risk-group membership, conspiracy beliefs, political orientation), and their changes over time – reflecting people's adaptations to the pandemic. We also asked respondents about their social networks (e.g., peer adherence to the measures). Moreover, the study employed vignette experiments to manipulate features of fictional situations, which would be challenging in field experiments due to ethical and practical concerns. This experimental method is particularly useful for testing causal hypotheses and investigating action-generating mechanisms. Finally, regional information on the local and temporal status of the pandemic (e.g., the incidence rate of infections) has been linked to the survey data. This allows for the study of individual responses to the evolution of the pandemic. We found that, for example, (non-)adherence varied by the protective measure examined and over time. The highest average adherence in Wave 1 was found for wearing a mask when required with an average of 81% of respondents indicating that they always adhere. However, the lowest adherence was found for the use of the Corona-Warn-App, whereby 45% of respondents indicated that they never use the application. Average adherence had a slight, statistically significant decrease over time. Conversely, perceived COVID-19 threat was moderate in Wave 1 and decreased slightly between waves one and two. Moreover, a scenario experiment demonstrated that perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 decreases when protective measures are implemented, which influences attendance to social gatherings. The project's findings can be used in further pandemics and epidemics to derive recommendations on how to induce behavioral change and alter underlying social norms (e.g., by changing guidelines and communicating them to specific population’ groups).
