Determinants of Support for COVID-19 Lockdown Measures–Model Inventory

Abstract

The Determinants of Support for COVID-19 Lockdown Measures—Model Inventory (Wang, 2022) is a specialized psychological instrument developed to investigate the complex factors associated with public support for stringent lockdown measures implemented in China during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. This original, 24-item measure integrates established theoretical frameworks from social and health psychology, adapting core concepts from seminal works such as the Health Belief Model (Rosenstock, 1974), the Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010), and cultural psychology (Triandis & Gelfand, 1998).

The scale was rigorously tested on a sample of Chinese participants. The resulting psychometric analysis provided satisfactory evidence regarding its structural integrity, reporting robust data concerning the measurement model’s factor structure, internal consistency reliability, and test validity. The primary utility of the model is to identify key psychological and social determinants—including collectivist worldviews, perceived risk, and social norms—that predict compliance with mandatory governmental public health policies during a crisis.

Keywords

COVID-19 Lockdown, Policy Support, Communitarian Worldviews, Experiential Attitudes, Instrumental Attitudes, Perceived Severity, Perceived Susceptibility, Subjective Norms, Government Policy Making, Risk Perception, Social Norms, Health Psychology Assessment, Public Health Attitudes, Social and Interpersonal Measures.

Authors

Wang, Xiao

[quads id=5]

Purpose

The core purpose of this measurement model is to systematically assess the psychological and social determinants underlying public willingness to endorse and comply with mandatory lockdown measures. Developed specifically during the global health crisis, the instrument focuses on understanding the determinants of policy support within the specific cultural and political context of the People’s Republic of China, which utilized some of the world’s strictest public health interventions.

The scale provides researchers and policymakers with a structured tool to quantify the influence of latent variables—such as risk perception, affective and instrumental attitudes toward the policy, and cultural orientations (e.g., communitarianism)—on collective compliance with restrictive governmental mandates aimed at mitigating viral spread during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Construct

The scale measures support for COVID-19 lockdown measures by operationalizing seven distinct psychological and sociological constructs. These constructs are theoretically grounded in classic models of health behavior and social influence, adapted to the unique environment of a national pandemic response.

The seven primary constructs measured by the 24-item instrument are:

• Communitarian Worldviews: Measures the extent to which individuals prioritize collective welfare, social harmony, and group needs over personal autonomy or liberty.
• Perceived Susceptibility: Reflects the subjective belief regarding an individual’s likelihood of contracting the infectious disease (COVID-19).
• Perceived Severity: Assesses the subjective evaluation of how serious the personal and societal consequences of contracting the disease would be.
• Experiential Attitudes: Captures the affective reactions, feelings, and emotional responses toward the imposition of the lockdown measure.
• Instrumental Attitudes: Measures the cognitive evaluations of the utility, effectiveness, or practical consequences of the lockdown measure.
• Subjective Norms: Reflects the perception of social pressure, expectations, or approval from important reference groups regarding supporting the government policy.
• Policy Support: The dependent variable, measuring explicit behavioral intention to comply with and support the government’s lockdown policy.

Validity

The test validity of the measurement model was primarily examined through convergent validity within the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) framework. While the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) for two specific constructs was slightly below the conventional threshold of .50 (reported at .47 and .48), the overall performance of the items was deemed acceptable.

Supporting the validity, standardized factor loadings ranged strongly from .62 to .74 across all items, indicating that items loaded appropriately onto their respective factors. Furthermore, the construct reliabilities (Composite Reliability) for the two constructs with lower AVE values were acceptable at .77 and .73, providing sufficient evidence that the latent variables were adequately measured by their indicators.

Reliability

The reliability of the Determinants of Support for COVID-19 Lockdown Measures—Model Inventory was established through robust assessments of internal consistency across its multiple dimensions.

The scale demonstrated high levels of reliability, confirming the coherence of the items within each construct. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients ranged from .65 to .93 across the seven constructs. Moreover, the construct reliability estimates, which are crucial for evaluating the quality of latent variables in structural equation modeling, ranged from .73 to .94, confirming that the measurement errors were minimized and the scales consistently measured their intended concepts.

Factor Analysis

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to rigorously test the hypothesized seven-factor structure of the measurement model. The analysis utilized the robust maximum likelihood estimation method within the LISREL software package, appropriate for assessing model fit with the sample data (N = 528).

The CFA results indicated that the proposed model achieved satisfactory fit statistics. Key fit indices included the Satorra-Bentler χ2 (209 degrees of freedom) = 318.8 (p < .001). More importantly, the practical fit indices were excellent: the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was .032 (with a tight 90% confidence interval of .024 to .038), the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) was high at .99, and the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) was low at .045. These findings provide strong statistical support for the distinctiveness and structural integrity of the seven determinants underlying support for the policy.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: The instrument utilizes a 7-point Likert-type scale. Responses range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Note: No data is available for specific test items.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Average Age of 29.7 Years

Population Details: The study was conducted in China, targeting Chinese Participants.

Test Methodology: The development and validation relied on comprehensive psychometric methods, including Test Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Measurement Model construction.

Keywords

COVID-19 Lockdown, Policy Support, Public Health Policy, Psychological Measurement, Social Psychology, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Risk Communication, China, Subjective Norms.

[quads id=5]

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Wang, Xiao: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0326-4832

Affiliation Email addresses: Wang, Xiao is affiliated with the Rochester Institute of Technology School of Communication. Email address: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Wang, Xiao: Rochester Institute of Technology, School of Communication, 92 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, New York, United States, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Use of the scale requires contacting the Corresponding Author for permission.

Commercial: No

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Wang, X. (2022). Factors associated with public support for a lockdown measure in China during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 25(4), 658–673. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajsp.12526

Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (2010). Predicting and changing behavior: The reasoned action approach. Psychology Press.

Rosenstock, I. M. (1974). Historical origins of the Health Belief Model. Health Education Monographs, 2(4), 328-335.

Triandis, H. C., & Gelfand, M. J. (1998). Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 118-128.

[quads id=5]

Items of the Determinants of Support for COVID-19 Lockdown Measures–Model Inventory

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

This is a 24-item measure.

Factors and Subscales: Constructs: Communitarian worldviews; Perceived susceptibility; Perceived severity; Experiential attitudes; Instrumental attitudes; Subjective norms; Policy support.