Predicting behavioral intentions to prevent or mitigate COVID-19: A meta-analysis
We examined the effectiveness of attitudes, social norms and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intentions and behaviors that prevent and mitigate COVID-19 infections and collateral negative consequences. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis with 29 effect sizes from 19 studies involving data from 11 countries (N = 15,328). We found strongest effects for perceived behavioral control, but also moderately strong effects of social norms. This is practically important in a pandemic environment because social norms in other health contexts typically show negligible effects and advice based on non-pandemic contexts may be misguided. Examining moderator effects, we are the first to demonstrate that in contexts with strong endorsement of social norms, norm-behavior effects were strengthened. Focusing on societal level differences, both wealth and individualism increased the strength of association between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intentions. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of the findings for behavior change and public health interventions.