Field observations and survey evidence to assess predictors of mask wearing across different outdoor activities in an Argentine city during the COVID-19 pandemic

ESTEBAN FREIDIN; LUZ ACERA MARTINI; CARLOS MAXIMILIANO SENCI; CRISTINA DUARTE ; FABRICIO CARBALLO

Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being

Wiley-Blackwell

Año: 2021

We here studied some potential factors underlying variation in compliance with preventivebehaviors against COVID-19 by studying mask wearing during outdoor recreational activities in amid-size city of Argentina in 2020. The originality of present research relies on thecomplementation of observational (N=15,507) and survey (N=578) data, and in assessing thedeterminants of and disposition to the same preventive behavior across activities. In Study 1, wedid eight weeks of unobtrusive systematic observation of mask wearing in outdoor recreationalsites as a function of activity (walking, running, and cycling). In Study 2, we ran an online survey(concomitant with the last weeks of the observational study) to measure self-reported mask useand relevant beliefs, including self- and other-regarding motives. Behavioral observations showedthat mask wearing declined over time for the three activities as predicted from a social dilemmaperspective; nonetheless, compliance significantly differed across activities. Self-reported maskuse was predicted by the perceived risk of contagion for the self and for others, perceived comfortcosts of wearing masks, and subjective norms, but not by perceived illness severity or maskeffectiveness. We discuss some implications and limitations of present findings for thedevelopment of preventive strategies to reduce COVID-19 transmission.