Survey shows why some people are less likely to shelter at home

Without strict government orders to do so, people with certain common personality traits are less inclined to comply with shelter-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. That’s according to the results of a newly published global survey conducted by the American Psychological Association during the initial wave of the outbreak.

“We found that people who scored low on two personality traits — openness to experience and neuroticism — were less likely to shelter at home in the absence of stringent government measures, but that tendency went away when more restrictive government policies were implemented,” Friedrich Götz, a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge and lead author of the study, said in a news release.

“Initially, this was a bit astounding, as open individuals have traditionally been shown to be prone to risk-taking, willing to deviate from cultural norms and likely to seek out and approach novel and unfamiliar things — all of which would arguably put them at greater risk to ignore sheltering-in-place recommendations," he said. "However, at the same time, openness is also related to accurate risk perceptions, universalism and humankind identification. Thus, in the digitalized world in which the current pandemic occurred, these qualities may have led open individuals to follow the COVID-19 outbreak in other countries, realize its severity and act accordingly.”

Using data from the “Measuring Worldwide COVID-19 Attitudes and Beliefs” project, Götz and his colleagues examined responses from participants in 55 countries where at least 200 people responded to the survey between March 20 and April 5. More than 101,000 participants gave information on behavior and sociodemographic data. They also answered a set of questions intended to measure the so-called Big Five personality traits: conscientiousness, neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion and openness.

Researchers used the COVID-19 Government Response Stringency Index to evaluate each country’s national policy stringency. The index allocates stringency scores based on nine response indicators, including travel bans and closings of schools and workplaces.

“Our analyses reveal that both governmental stringency and personality independently predicted sheltering-in-place rates," Götz said. "Not surprisingly, in areas where government policies were more stringent, people were more likely to shelter in place.”

For more information on the study, including how politics could influence people’s compliance with social distancing measures, read the news release here.