Belief in Science and Beliefs about COVID-19: Educational Gradients

Yue Qian; Yu Xie; Yongai Jin

doi:10.1177/00380385221091129

Belief in Science and Beliefs about COVID-19: Educational Gradients

Yue Qian, Yu Xie, Yongai Jin

Sociology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Prior research has attributed the socio-economic disparity in COVID-19 infections to differences in degrees of exposure or economic resources. This study proposes beliefs about COVID-19 as a potential additional explanation. We conducted a nationally representative US survey with six measures of COVID-19 beliefs. Socio-economic status was measured through educational level. Compared with less-educated respondents, highly educated respondents treat COVID-19 more seriously, including believing in (1) face mask use, (2) asymptomatic transmission, (3) media non-exaggeration, (4) the necessity of stay-at-home orders, (5) a likelihood of themselves being infected with COVID-19 and (6) no protection of God against COVID-19. The educational gradient in COVID-19 beliefs was largely explained by differential levels of belief in science across education. Our findings suggest that encouraging public trust in science can potentially reduce the educational gradient in COVID-19 infections in the USA.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	800-810
Number of pages	11
Journal	Sociology
Volume	56
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385221091129
State	Published - Aug 2022

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Sociology and Political Science

Keywords

COVID-19
COVID-19 beliefs
United States
belief in science
beliefs about COVID-19
education

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10.1177/00380385221091129

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title = "Belief in Science and Beliefs about COVID-19: Educational Gradients",

abstract = "Prior research has attributed the socio-economic disparity in COVID-19 infections to differences in degrees of exposure or economic resources. This study proposes beliefs about COVID-19 as a potential additional explanation. We conducted a nationally representative US survey with six measures of COVID-19 beliefs. Socio-economic status was measured through educational level. Compared with less-educated respondents, highly educated respondents treat COVID-19 more seriously, including believing in (1) face mask use, (2) asymptomatic transmission, (3) media non-exaggeration, (4) the necessity of stay-at-home orders, (5) a likelihood of themselves being infected with COVID-19 and (6) no protection of God against COVID-19. The educational gradient in COVID-19 beliefs was largely explained by differential levels of belief in science across education. Our findings suggest that encouraging public trust in science can potentially reduce the educational gradient in COVID-19 infections in the USA.",

keywords = "COVID-19, COVID-19 beliefs, United States, belief in science, beliefs about COVID-19, education",

author = "Yue Qian and Yu Xie and Yongai Jin",

note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: Yu Xie received financial support for data collection from Princeton University. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funder. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2022.",

year = "2022",

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doi = "10.1177/00380385221091129",

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PY - 2022/8

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N2 - Prior research has attributed the socio-economic disparity in COVID-19 infections to differences in degrees of exposure or economic resources. This study proposes beliefs about COVID-19 as a potential additional explanation. We conducted a nationally representative US survey with six measures of COVID-19 beliefs. Socio-economic status was measured through educational level. Compared with less-educated respondents, highly educated respondents treat COVID-19 more seriously, including believing in (1) face mask use, (2) asymptomatic transmission, (3) media non-exaggeration, (4) the necessity of stay-at-home orders, (5) a likelihood of themselves being infected with COVID-19 and (6) no protection of God against COVID-19. The educational gradient in COVID-19 beliefs was largely explained by differential levels of belief in science across education. Our findings suggest that encouraging public trust in science can potentially reduce the educational gradient in COVID-19 infections in the USA.

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Belief in Science and Beliefs about COVID-19: Educational Gradients

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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