Personality Factors and Health Beliefs Related to Attitudes Toward Wearing Face Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract: Background: The COVID-19 virus is a worldwide pandemic health emergency. Although preventative measures have been put in place in an attempt to control its spread, their implementation has been met with resistance. Aims: To verify the nature of the health belief and personality factors associated with favorable attitudes toward face-mask use during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Methods: A sample of N = 680 completed an online survey that included attitudes toward wearing face masks, measures of both malevolent (Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy) and benevolent (socially responsible) personality traits, along with a set of health beliefs surrounding COVID-19 (perceived severity and susceptibility, etc.) and the use of face masks (perceived benefits and barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy). Results: Lower perceived susceptibility, lower perceived benefits, and higher perceived barriers to face-mask use, being more motivated by cues to action, being female, and lower levels of grandiose narcissism were uniquely related to more favorable attitudes toward wearing face masks. The relation between socially responsible personality and mask-wearing attitudes was moderated by perceived severity. Namely, higher levels of socially responsible personality predicted more favorable attitudes but only when perceived severity was also high (with the reverse being evident for those who perceived the severity as being low). Limitations: The data relies on self-reports obtained cross-sectionally from a sample of university students. Conclusions: This study sheds light on the link between pro-mask attitudes and both benevolent/malevolent personality traits and the social-contextual factors related to the enactment of preventative health behaviors.