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COVID-19 vulnerability and perceived norm violations predict loss of social trust: A pre-post study

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  • Lo Iacono, Sergio
  • Przepiorka, Wojtek
  • Buskens, Vincent
  • Corten, Rense
  • van de Rijt, Arnout

Abstract

While pandemic containment measures benefit public health, they may jeopardize the social structure of society. We hypothesize that lockdowns and prolonged social distancing measures hinder social support and invite norm violations, eroding social trust. We conducted a pre-registered pre-post study on a representative sample of the Dutch population (n = 2377; participation rate = 88.8%), measuring social trust reported by the same individuals before and after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that social trust in the Netherlands suddenly dropped from its historically stable level, reaching one of its lowest points on record. The decline was stronger among residents belonging to official high-risk categories, especially if they perceived themselves as likely to become infected. Individuals who more strongly agreed with self-isolation norms or did not perceive a widespread compliance or agreement with such norms also reported a greater loss of trust.

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  • Lo Iacono, Sergio & Przepiorka, Wojtek & Buskens, Vincent & Corten, Rense & van de Rijt, Arnout, 2021. "COVID-19 vulnerability and perceived norm violations predict loss of social trust: A pre-post study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:291:y:2021:i:c:s0277953621008455
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114513
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    Cited by:

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    2. Aksoy, Ozan, 2022. "It runs in the family: parental influence on adolescents’ compliance with social distancing measures during Covid-19 lockdowns," SocArXiv y7wc6, Center for Open Science.
    3. Giulia Andrighetto & Aron Szekely & Andrea Guido & Michele Gelfand & Jered Abernathy & Gizem Arikan & Zeynep Aycan & Shweta Bankar & Davide Barrera & Dana Basnight-Brown & Anabel Belaus & Elizaveta Be, 2024. "Changes in social norms during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across 43 countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Ozan Aksoy, 2022. "Within-family influences on compliance with social-distancing measures during COVID-19 lockdowns in the United Kingdom," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(12), pages 1660-1668, December.
    5. Bellani, Luna & Biswas, Kumar & Fehrler, Sebastian & Marx, Paul & Sabarwal, Shwetlena & Al-Zayed Josh, Syed Rashed, 2023. "Social Norms and Female Labor Force Participation in Bangladesh: The Role of Social Expectations and Reference Networks," IZA Discussion Papers 16006, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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