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. 2021 Oct 28;18(21):11341.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111341.

Fear of Infection and the Common Good: COVID-19 and the First Italian Lockdown

Lloyd Balbuena  1 , Merylin Monaro  2
Affiliations

Fear of Infection and the Common Good: COVID-19 and the First Italian Lockdown

Lloyd Balbuena et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

In the first quarter of 2020, Italy became one of the earliest hotspots of COVID-19 infection, and the government imposed a lockdown. During the lockdown, an online survey of 2053 adults was conducted that asked about health behaviors and about the psychological and overall impact of COVID-19. The present study is a secondary analysis of that data. We hypothesized that self-control, higher socio-economic status, existing health conditions, and fear of infection were all inversely related to actions (or intentions) that violated the lockdown (i.e., infractions). Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), we found that only the fear of infection significantly dissuaded people from violating lockdown rules. Since it is not practical or ethical to sow a fear of infection, our study indicates that enacting rules and enforcing them firmly and fairly are important tools for containing the infection. This may become more important as vaccines become more widely available and people lose their fear of infection.

Keywords: collective behavior; fear of infection; pathogens; safety measures; self-control; social dilemma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Model 1: Direct effects only. Please refer to Appendix A Table A1 for the exact wording of indicators. The outcome (infractions) is predicted by four latent variables indicated by circles (self-control, health conditions, SES, and fear of infection). Rectangles are the observed variables. Arrows terminating in infractions are regression coefficients. Arrows originating from a latent variable (reflective) and terminating in a rectangle represent loading. Arrows originating from a rectangle and ending in a latent variable (formative) represent weights.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Model 2: Direct Effects + 1 indirect Effect. The same as Model 1 except for an added path (regression coefficient) from health conditions to fear of infection. The indirect effect of health conditions on infractions is not significant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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