IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v301y2022ics027795362200257x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Highlighting COVID-19 racial disparities can reduce support for safety precautions among White U.S. residents

Author

Listed:
  • Skinner-Dorkenoo, Allison L.
  • Sarmal, Apoorva
  • Rogbeer, Kasheena G.
  • André, Chloe J.
  • Patel, Bhumi
  • Cha, Leah

Abstract

U.S. media has extensively covered racial disparities in COVID-19 infections and deaths, which may ironically reduce public concern about COVID-19. In two preregistered studies (conducted in the fall of 2020), we examined whether perceptions of COVID-19 racial disparities predict White U.S. residents’ attitudes toward COVID-19. Utilizing a correlational design (N = 498), we found that those who perceived COVID-19 racial disparities to be greater reported reduced fear of COVID-19, which predicted reduced support for COVID-19 safety precautions. In Study 2, we manipulated exposure to information about COVID-19 racial disparities (N = 1,505). Reading about the persistent inequalities that produced COVID-19 racial disparities reduced fear of COVID-19, empathy for those vulnerable to COVID-19, and support for safety precautions. These findings suggest that publicizing racial health disparities has the potential to create a vicious cycle wherein raising awareness reduces support for the very policies that could protect public health and reduce disparities.

Suggested Citation

  • Skinner-Dorkenoo, Allison L. & Sarmal, Apoorva & Rogbeer, Kasheena G. & André, Chloe J. & Patel, Bhumi & Cha, Leah, 2022. "Highlighting COVID-19 racial disparities can reduce support for safety precautions among White U.S. residents," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:301:y:2022:i:c:s027795362200257x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114951
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362200257X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114951?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark A. Thornton & Miriam E. Weaverdyck & Judith N. Mildner & Diana I. Tamir, 2019. "People represent their own mental states more distinctly than those of others," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Yao Lu & Neeraj Kaushal & Xiaoning Huang & S. Michael Gaddis, 2021. "Priming COVID-19 salience increases prejudice and discriminatory intent against Asians and Hispanics," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(36), pages 2105125118-, September.
    3. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.303883_0 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Harell, Allison & Lieberman, Evan, 2021. "How information about race-based health disparities affects policy preferences: Evidence from a survey experiment about the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    5. Lee, J.G.L. & Martin, R.J. & Landrine, H. & Matthews, D.D. & Averett, P.E. & Niederdeppe, J., 2017. "Reasons for caution when emphasizing health disparities for sexual and gender minority adults in public health campaigns," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(8), pages 1223-1225.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brannon, Tiffany N. & Marshall, Riley A., 2023. "Twin pandemics, intertwined (intergroup) solutions: Support for mitigating racism benefits vaccine hesitancy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    2. Liu, Jiawei & Niederdeppe, Jeff, 2024. "Effects of communicating health disparities using social comparison framing: A comprehensive review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    3. Wong, Sandy & Ponder, C.S. & Melix, Bertram, 2023. "Spatial and racial covid-19 disparities in U.S. nursing homes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    4. Gollust, Sarah E. & Haselswerdt, Jake, 2023. "Who does COVID-19 hurt most? Perceptions of unequal impact and political implications," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    5. Hailey, Chantal A. & Murray, Brittany & Boggs, Rachel & Broussard, Jalisa & Flores, Milani, 2023. "Unmasking racial avoidance: Experimental evidence on parental school choice and public health policies during the Covid-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    6. Ezell, Jerel M. & Olson, Brooke & Ghosh, Arnab & Chase, Elizabeth C., 2022. "Theorizing on neo public assistance: How do race and class impact resource uptake and behavior following disaster?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    7. Miller, Chad A. & Wilkins, Clara L. & de Paula Couto, Clara & Farias, Jéssica & Lisnek, Jaclyn A., 2023. "Anti-Black attitudes predict decreased concern about COVID-19 among Whites in the U.S. and Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hailey, Chantal A. & Murray, Brittany & Boggs, Rachel & Broussard, Jalisa & Flores, Milani, 2023. "Unmasking racial avoidance: Experimental evidence on parental school choice and public health policies during the Covid-19 pandemic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    2. Liu, Jiawei & Niederdeppe, Jeff, 2024. "Effects of communicating health disparities using social comparison framing: A comprehensive review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 348(C).
    3. Mark A. Thornton & Diana I. Tamir, 2024. "Neural representations of situations and mental states are composed of sums of representations of the actions they afford," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Jonathon P. Schuldt & Adam R. Pearson & Neil A. Lewis jr. & Ashley Jardina & Peter K. Enns, 2022. "Inequality and Misperceptions of Group Concerns Threaten the Integrity and Societal Impact of Science," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 195-207, March.
    5. Marc Lochbaum & Elisabeth Stoner & Tristen Hefner & Sydney Cooper & Andrew M Lane & Peter C Terry, 2022. "Sport psychology and performance meta-analyses: A systematic review of the literature," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Gaddis, S. Michael & DiRago, Nicholas V., 2021. "Audit Studies of Housing in the United States: Established, Emerging, and Future Research," SocArXiv fn4ta, Center for Open Science.
    7. Gollust, Sarah E. & Haselswerdt, Jake, 2023. "Who does COVID-19 hurt most? Perceptions of unequal impact and political implications," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:301:y:2022:i:c:s027795362200257x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.