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. 2022 Jan:293:114677.
doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114677. Epub 2021 Dec 22.

Different roles of interpersonal trust and institutional trust in COVID-19 pandemic control

Hang Yuan  1 , Qinyi Long  1 , Guanglv Huang  1 , Liqin Huang  1 , Siyang Luo  2
Affiliations

Different roles of interpersonal trust and institutional trust in COVID-19 pandemic control

Hang Yuan et al. Soc Sci Med. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

The absence of pharmaceutical interventions made it particularly difficult to mitigate the first outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The current study investigated how interpersonal trust and institutional trust influenced the control process. Trusts and COVID-19 data in 44 countries and 50 US states were analyzed; institutional trust was associated with case fatality rate, and interpersonal trust was associated with control speed. Two independent behavioral experiments showed that institutional trust manipulation increased participants' willingness to complete the COVID-19 test and that interpersonal trust manipulation increased conscious compliance with prevention norms and decreased unnecessary outdoor activities. Agent-based modeling further confirmed these behavioral mechanisms for two types of trust in the COVID-19 control process. New interventions are needed to help countries heighten interpersonal and institutional trust as they continue to battle COVID-19 and other collective threats.

Keywords: Agent-based modeling; COVID-19; Institutional trust; Interpersonal trust; Pandemic control.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Association between institutional trust/interpersonal trust and case fatality rate/control speed in both global and US samples.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Scatter diagram of trusts and COVID-19 indicator with regression lines and 95% CIs in both global and US samples. a Negative association between institutional trust and case fatality rate. b Effects of institutional trust on control speed. c Effects of interpersonal trust on case fatality rate. d Positive association between interpersonal trust and control speed.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Results of behavioral experiments. a Score of willingness to undergo a COVID-19 test in two groups (centerline, median; box limits, upper and lower quartiles; whiskers, 1.5 × interquartile range; points, outliers). b Score of reducing unnecessary outdoor activities in the Chinese and US samples. The two p-values represent the p-value for the independent test of two interpersonal trust groups and (p-value) of the multiple regression with the score controlled for perceived susceptibility.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Simulation model and result. a Adjusted SEIR model in study 3. b COVID-19 controlling simulation process: begin (b1), controlling (b2) and controlled (b3). c Effects of institutional trust and interpersonal trust on case fatality rate and control speed (centerline, median; box limits, upper and lower quartiles; whiskers, 1.5 × interquartile range; points, outliers.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Conceptual framework of trust and COVID-19 pandemic control.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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