Britons and Americans are much less likely to follow lockdown guidelines than French or Italian people, study finds
- Research from Durham University found 79 per cent of Britons & Americans would follow coronavirus guidelines set by their respective governments
- Eighty-nine per cent of French and Italians said they would follow measures
- The research was conducted at the end of April at the height of the pandemic
A study has found that Britons and American are far less likely to follow lockdown guidelines than French or Italian people.
A new study conducted by researchers at Durham University Business school has found that only 71 per cent of Britons, Americans and other English speakers around the globe followed guidelines set by their governments during the Covid-19 lockdown.
This was considerably lower than French and Italians, where 89 per cent of respondents said they followed guidelines.
The research was conducted at the end of April 2020 at the height of the global pandemic, when many countries were at the strictest stage of lockdown.
Pictured: Passengers sit on the Jubilee line yesterday. New research has revealed that Britons and Americans are considerably less likely to follow government advice relating to coronavirus protection
Sascha Kraus, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Durham University Business School, Andrés Davila, Professor at ESCE Paris, and an international team of academics researched the topic to understand people’s views towards Covid-19 voluntary compliance behaviours, and who was most likely to follow.
The researchers also found that only 70 per cent of native English speakers were happy to take preventative steps such as wearing a mask indoors, social distancing, avoiding crowds, staying at home and washing their hands frequently.
The findings come from a survey of over 8,300 respondents from 70 countries, collected using an app from Praditus.com.
The interviews focused on beliefs and attitudes towards three key areas of covid-19 prevention; following government recommendations, taking health precautions (including mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing, and staying at home); and encouraging others to take health precautions too.
Passengers at the Termini railway station during Phase 3 of the emergency for Covid-19 Coronavirus, in Rome, 01 August 2020
Professor Sascha Kraus, leading the project, said: ‘Countries around the world have been facing extraordinary challenges in implementing various measures to slow down the spread of COVID- 19.
‘In order for these measures to be effective, the public must comply.
‘Many governments are lifting official restrictions, thus elevating the importance of voluntary compliance, therefore it’s important that individuals are informed about the effectiveness of wearing masks, hand washing, social distancing, and staying at home, to increase voluntary compliance with government rules and recommendations.’
Other interview respondents were German, Spanish, French and Italian native speakers.
English speakers were the second least likely to follow government guidelines, second least likely to take precautionary measures, and also second least likely to advise others on guidelines and safety measures.
The researchers also looked at other demographics to identify the likelihood of people following guidelines, taking health precautions and advising others.
They found that women were more likely than men to be vigilant across the board, while there was no link between age and rule-following.
The researchers also reviewed people’s beliefs and characteristics, such as openness, trust in government, vulnerability and general disruptiveness. Conscientious, extraverted and open-minded people were more likely to be cautious.
This study has just been published in the journal ‘Global Transitions’.