Abstract
Wearing masks against 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) is beneficial in suppressing pandemic spread, not through preventing the wearer from being infected but by preventing the wearer from infecting others. Despite not providing much protection, the custom of wearing masks has prevailed in East Asia from the early stages of the pandemic, especially in Japan, to such an extent that it caused a shortfall in supply. Why do many Japanese people wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though masks are unlikely to prevent them from getting infected? We examined six possible psychological reasons for wearing masks: three involved expectations about the risk of infection and three involved other driving psychological forces. The results of our nationwide survey revealed that people conformed to societal norms in wearing masks and felt relief from anxiety when wearing masks. However, risk reduction expectations did not affect mask usage. The social psychological motivations successfully explained much about mask usage. Our findings suggest that policymakers responsible for public health should consider social motivations when implementing public strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights
Why do many Japanese people wear masks during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, even though masks are unlikely to prevent them from getting infected? Wearing masks against COVID-19 is beneficial in suppressing pandemic spread, not through preventing the wearer from being infected but by preventing the wearer from infecting others, according to suggestions from the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020a,b,c) and lessons from previous pandemics, such as the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic and the 2009 influenza A virus subtype H1N1 pandemic (Mniszewski et al, 2014; Leung et al, 2020)
There were 515 female participants and 485 male participants; 11.5% of female participants were in their 20s, 14.6% were in their 30s, 16.9% were in their 40s, 14.8% were in their 50s, 31.5% were in their 60s, 10.1% were in their 70s, and 0.8% were 80 years of age or older; 12.4% of male participants were in their 20s, 15.7% were in their 30s, 18.8% were in their 40s, 15.9% were in their 50s, 26.8% were in their 60s, 9.9% were in their 70s, and 0.6% were 80 years of age or older
Mask usage was regressed by the six psychological reasons to wear masks, removing the products above to avoid multicollinearity, and in order to compare the explanatory power of the psychological reasons
Summary
Why do many Japanese people wear masks during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, even though masks are unlikely to prevent them from getting infected? Wearing masks against COVID-19 is beneficial in suppressing pandemic spread, not through preventing the wearer from being infected but by preventing the wearer from infecting others, according to suggestions from the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020a,b,c) and lessons from previous pandemics, such as the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic and the 2009 influenza A virus subtype H1N1 pandemic (Mniszewski et al, 2014; Leung et al, 2020). Why do many Japanese people wear masks during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, even though masks are unlikely to prevent them from getting infected? What are the psychological reasons prompting an individual to take a measure from which they cannot directly benefit? We examined six possible psychological reasons for wearing masks: three involved individuals’ perception of the severity of the disease and the efficacy of masks in reducing the infection risks both for themselves and for others; the remaining three involved other psychological driving forces. Altruistic risk reduction to others is favorable for the whole of society; does such an altruistic motivation work well during a dreadful pandemic? Another motivation to reduce risk is self-interest that is, protecting oneself against the virus, even if this is a misperception. Theories of protection behavior such as the protection motivation theory (Rogers, 1975, 1983) and the protective action decision model (Lindell and Perry, 1992, 2012) posit that people cope well with risks when they perceive a threat as serious, and take action when they perceive the action as effective in mitigating associated damage
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