Reduced social distancing early in the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with antisocial behaviors in an online United States sample

Abstract

Antisocial behaviors cause harm, directly or indirectly, to others' welfare. The novel coronavirus pandemic has increased the urgency of understanding a specific form of antisociality: behaviors that increase risk of disease transmission. Because disease transmission-linked behaviors tend to be interpreted and responded to differently than other antisocial behaviors, it is unclear whether general indices of antisociality predict contamination-relevant behaviors. In a pre-registered study using an online U.S. sample, we found that individuals reporting high levels of antisociality engage in fewer social distancing measures: they report leaving their homes more frequently (p = .024) and standing closer to others while outside (p < .001). These relationships were observed after controlling for sociodemographic variables, illness risk, and use of protective equipment. Independently, higher education and leaving home for work were also associated with reduced distancing behavior. Antisociality was not significantly associated with level of worry about the coronavirus. These findings suggest that more antisocial individuals may pose health risks to themselves and their community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fig 1. Distance kept from others in past week.

A bordered image that contained an adult silhouette was used to assess participant-reported distance kept from others. The gray-red heatmap shows how far participants reported standing from other individuals in the past week, with dark maroon indicating a higher density of responses obtained from a kernel density estimation. The mean response coordinate, +, represents a distance of approximately 98 inches (8.2 feet; 2.5 m).

Fig 2. Antisociality is associated with leaving the home more frequently and standing closer to others during the COVID-19 pandemic.

(a) Adjusted predictions from the negative binomial regression indicate that leaving the home more frequently is modestly positively associated with antisociality. (b) Adjusted predictions of distance kept from others outside of the home in the past week is negatively associated with antisociality; the red line denotes the government recommended distance of 6 feet (1.8 m). Error bars represent 95% CI of the mean.