Preregistration

Will COVID-19-related economic worries superimpose the health worries, reducing acceptance of social distancing measures? A prospective pre-registered study

Author(s) / Creator(s)

Rosman, Tom
Chasiotis, Anita
Kerwer, Martin
Steinmetz, Holger
Wedderhoff, Oliver
Betsch, Cornelia
Bosnjak, Michael

Abstract / Description

As of March 2020, social distancing is seen as pivotal in reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-COV-2. Many countries, including Germany, recently established a set of strict measures that aim at social distancing, and the population, in general, seems to support these measures. However, the economic impact of these measures will likely be severe. Due to the corona outbreak, the population is thus subjected to two types of threats—a health threat by the virus, and an economic threat caused, to a large extent, by social distancing measures which curb supply and demand. In the present study, we investigate the psychological interplay of both threats on the acceptance of social distancing measures, and argue that with increasing worries about economic damage (which is likely to rise over the next few weeks and months), the now-high acceptance of social distance measures will diminish. In the current preregistration, we propose a set of corresponding hypotheses, which we plan to test using data from the COVID-19 Snapshot MOnitoring (COSMO) instrument, a weekly monitoring survey on “variables that are critical for behaviour change in the population to avoid transmission of COVID-19, including risk perceptions, trust, use of information sources, knowledge as well as barriers and drivers to recommended behaviours” (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2020, p. 9). While the analyses will primarily focus on the German COSMO survey (COSMO Germany; Betsch et al., in press), additional analyses may be conducted using COSMO data from other countries. Data will be analyzed upon availability of the respective weekly surveys, and regularly updated results will be published as preprints in PsychArchives.
This is a preregistration of the article: Rosman, T., Kerwer, M., Steinmetz, H., Chasiotis, A., Wedderhoff, O., Betsch, C., & Bosnjak, M. (2021). Will COVID‐19‐related economic worries superimpose health worries, reducing nonpharmaceutical intervention acceptance in Germany? A prospective pre‐registered study. International Journal of Psychology, 56(4), 607-622. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12753

Persistent Identifier

PsychArchives acquisition timestamp

2020-05-27 12:55:43 UTC

Publisher

ZPID (Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information)

Citation

Rosman, T., Chasiotis, A., Kerwer, M., Steinmetz, H., Wedderhoff, O., Betsch, C., & Bosnjak, M. (2020). Will COVID-19-related economic worries superimpose the health worries, reducing acceptance of social distancing measures? A prospective pre-registered study. ZPID (Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information). https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.3005
  • 2
    2020-05-27
    This is the revised protocol according to the COSMO Germany data usage terms. Cornelia Betsch, author of the original COSMO preregistration, has been added as a co-author. The protocol’s content remains unchanged.
  • 1
    2020-04-08
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Rosman, Tom
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Chasiotis, Anita
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Kerwer, Martin
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Steinmetz, Holger
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Wedderhoff, Oliver
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Betsch, Cornelia
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Bosnjak, Michael
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2020-05-27T12:55:43Z
  • Made available on
    2020-04-08T13:39:38Z
  • Made available on
    2020-05-27T12:55:43Z
  • Date of first publication
    2020-05-27
  • Abstract / Description
    As of March 2020, social distancing is seen as pivotal in reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-COV-2. Many countries, including Germany, recently established a set of strict measures that aim at social distancing, and the population, in general, seems to support these measures. However, the economic impact of these measures will likely be severe. Due to the corona outbreak, the population is thus subjected to two types of threats—a health threat by the virus, and an economic threat caused, to a large extent, by social distancing measures which curb supply and demand. In the present study, we investigate the psychological interplay of both threats on the acceptance of social distancing measures, and argue that with increasing worries about economic damage (which is likely to rise over the next few weeks and months), the now-high acceptance of social distance measures will diminish. In the current preregistration, we propose a set of corresponding hypotheses, which we plan to test using data from the COVID-19 Snapshot MOnitoring (COSMO) instrument, a weekly monitoring survey on “variables that are critical for behaviour change in the population to avoid transmission of COVID-19, including risk perceptions, trust, use of information sources, knowledge as well as barriers and drivers to recommended behaviours” (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2020, p. 9). While the analyses will primarily focus on the German COSMO survey (COSMO Germany; Betsch et al., in press), additional analyses may be conducted using COSMO data from other countries. Data will be analyzed upon availability of the respective weekly surveys, and regularly updated results will be published as preprints in PsychArchives.
    en_US
  • Abstract / Description
    This is a preregistration of the article: Rosman, T., Kerwer, M., Steinmetz, H., Chasiotis, A., Wedderhoff, O., Betsch, C., & Bosnjak, M. (2021). Will COVID‐19‐related economic worries superimpose health worries, reducing nonpharmaceutical intervention acceptance in Germany? A prospective pre‐registered study. International Journal of Psychology, 56(4), 607-622. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12753
    en
  • Publication status
    other
    en
  • Citation
    Rosman, T., Chasiotis, A., Kerwer, M., Steinmetz, H., Wedderhoff, O., Betsch, C., & Bosnjak, M. (2020). Will COVID-19-related economic worries superimpose the health worries, reducing acceptance of social distancing measures? A prospective pre-registered study. ZPID (Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information). https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.3005
    en
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/2418.2
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.3005
  • Language of content
    eng
    en_US
  • Publisher
    ZPID (Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information)
    en_US
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.3148
  • Is related to
    https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12753
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Will COVID-19-related economic worries superimpose the health worries, reducing acceptance of social distancing measures? A prospective pre-registered study
    en_US
  • DRO type
    preregistration
    en_US
  • Leibniz institute name(s) / abbreviation(s)
    ZPID
    de_DE
  • Visible tag(s)
    preregistration
    en
  • Visible tag(s)
    COSMO
    en
  • Visible tag(s)
    COSMO-DE
    en