Adherence to wearing facemasks during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study reports a comprehensive empirical investigation of the nature
and correlates of anti-mask attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accumulating evidence underscores the importance of facemasks, as worn by
the general public, in limiting the spread of infection. Accordingly, mask
wearing has become increasingly mandatory in public places such as stores
and on public transit. Although the public has been generally adherent to
mask wearing, a small but vocal group of individuals refuse to wear masks.
Anti-mask protest rallies have occurred in many places throughout the
world, sometimes erupting violently. Few empirical studies have examined
the relationship between anti-mask attitudes and mask non-adherence and
little is known about how such attitudes relate to one another or other
factors (e.g., non-adherence to social distancing, anti-vaccination
attitudes). To investigate these issues, the present study surveyed 2,078
adults from the US and Canada. Consistent with other surveys, we found
that most (84%) people wore masks because of COVID-19. The 16% who did not
wear masks scored higher on most measures of negative attitudes towards
masks. Network analyses indicated that negative attitudes about masks
formed an intercorrelated network, with the central nodes in the network
being (a) beliefs that masks are ineffective in preventing COVID-19, and
(b) psychological reactance (PR; i.e., an aversion to being forced to wear
masks). These central nodes served as links, connecting the network of
anti-masks attitudes to negative attitudes toward SARSCoV2 vaccination,
beliefs that the threat of COVID-19 has been exaggerated, disregard for
social distancing, and political conservatism. Findings regarding PR are
important because, theoretically, PR is likely to strengthen other
anti-masks attitudes (e.g., beliefs that masks are ineffective) because
people with strong PR react with anger and counter-arguments when their
beliefs are challenged, thereby leading to a strengthening of their
anti-mask beliefs. Implications for improving mask adherence are
discussed.