Understanding COVID-19-Related Behaviors, Worries, and Attitudes among Chinese: Roles of Personality and Severity

TL;DR

This study explores how personality traits and the severity of the pandemic influence behaviors, worries, and attitudes related to COVID-19 in China.

Contribution

The study reveals how situational severity and HEXACO personality traits jointly shape pandemic-related responses.

Findings

Severity of COVID-19 predicted all responses more strongly than personality traits.

Honesty-Humility and Conscientiousness predicted mask-wearing and hoarding behaviors.

Emotionality predicted worries about infecting others, and HEXACO traits influenced attitudes toward infected people.

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people exhibited various forms of adjustments. This study examines how situational factors (i.e., the severity of COVID-19) and individual differences (i.e., the HEXACO traits) affect one’s COVID-19-related responses regarding behaviors (i.e., mask-wearing and hoarding), worries (i.e., worrying about infecting and spreading COVID-19), and attitudes (i.e., discrimination and empathy toward people infecting COVID-19) in China. With a sample of 927 participants, our results show that the severity of COVID-19 was predictive of all the responses, and its predictive value was more pronounced relative to personality traits. Concerning the association between personality traits and responses, Honesty-Humility and Conscientiousness were predictive of one’s behaviors, Emotionality was predictive of one’s worries, and almost all the HEXACO traits were associated with one’s attitudes toward people infected with COVID-19. This study sheds some light on understanding how situations and individual differences shape one’s responses in a time of emergency.