Experience and Health-Related Behavior in Times of the Corona Crisis in Germany: An Exploratory Psychological Survey Considering the Identification of Compliance-Enhancing Strategies

Abstract

Despite the need for enduring preventive behavior in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, several counteracting behavioral reactions can be observed worldwide. Considering the grave consequences resulting from such health-related risk behavior, we carried out an online questionnaire study to identify personal characteristics that frame a motivational sketch of those who refuse to follow the pandemic-related preventive measures. Our results from a sample of N = 570 German participants already indicate obvious changes in relevant variables in the four-week investigation period during the pandemic’s initial phase (25 March to 22 April 2020). Above all, the willingness to take preventive measures decreased, as did the assessment of the pandemic’s severity. The perceived own vulnerability also turned out to be clearly age-dependent and, overall, our sample showed a negative affectivity deviating distinctively from a reference sample. These and other findings allow for identification of sources for public health interventions that can help to increase compliance with required prevention behavior, and thus, counteract COVID-19.