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- Title
Mapping the sociodemographic distribution and self-reported justifications for non-compliance with COVID-19 guidelines in the United Kingdom.
- Authors
Bălăeț, Maria; Kurtin, Danielle L.; Gruia, Dragos C.; Lerede, Annalaura; Custovic, Darije; Trender, William; Jolly, Amy E.; Hellyer, Peter J.; Hampshire, Adam
- Abstract
Which population factors have predisposed people to disregard government safety guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic and what justifications do they give for this non-compliance? To address these questions, we analyse fixed-choice and free-text responses to survey questions about compliance and government handling of the pandemic, collected from tens of thousands of members of the UK public at three 6-monthly timepoints. We report that sceptical opinions about the government and mainstream-media narrative, especially as pertaining to justification for guidelines, significantly predict non-compliance. However, free text topic modelling shows that such opinions are diverse, spanning from scepticism about government competence and self-interest to full-blown conspiracy theories, and covary in prevalence with sociodemographic variables. These results indicate that attempts to counter non-compliance through argument should account for this diversity in peoples' underlying opinions, and inform conversations aimed at bridging the gap between the general public and bodies of authority accordingly.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; CONSPIRACY theories; COVID-19 pandemic; NONCOMPLIANCE; COVID-19; NATURAL language processing
- Publication
Frontiers in Psychology, 2023, p1
- ISSN
1664-1078
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1183789