Association Between Trust in the Incumbent President and COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors During the Pandemic in Four Latin American Countries

Authors

Juliana Mejía-Grueso
Gloria Isabel Niño-Cruz
Javiera Alarcón-Aguilar
Pablo Roa-Urrutia
Sergio Mauricio Moreno-López
Adriano Akira Ferreira Hino
Alexandre Augusto de Paula da Silva
Fernando López
Deborah Salvo
Rodrigo Siqueira Reis
Guillermo Rosas
Andrea Ramírez-Varela

Publication Date

1-1-2025

Journal

Cadernos de Saúde Pública

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed disparities in policy responses in Latin America. We examined the association between trust in the president and COVID-19 preventive behaviors in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. We used data from the Collaborative COVID-19 Response Survey by the McDonnell Academy at Washington University in St. Louis (United States), from September 2020 to March 2021. Nonprobabilistic sampling included adult citizens from the four countries. Multivariate negative binomial regression models were applied. The study included 8,125 participants, with Brazil showing the lowest adherence to preventive behaviors (65.5%). Increased adoption of preventive behaviors was linked with ages 18-26 (aIRR = 1.05; 95%CI: 1.01-1.09), 60 or more (aIRR = 1.10; 95%CI: 1.05-1.15), and high socioeconomic status (aIRR = 1.09; 95%CI: 1.05-1.13). Decreased engagement was linked to participants from Brazil (aIRR = 0.74; 95%CI: 0.71-0.78), Mexico (aIRR = 0.95; 95%CI: 0.92-0.99), basic education (aIRR = 0.75; 95%CI: 0.68-0.84), intermediate education (aIRR = 0.88; 95%CI: 0.85-0.91), low socioeconomic status (aIRR = 0.91; 95%CI: 0.87-0.94), lack of concern about contracting COVID-19 (aIRR = 0.93; 95%CI: 0.88-0.98), and poor knowledge about COVID-19 (aIRR = 0.92; 95%CI: 0.88-0.96). No significant association was found between trust in the president and preventive behaviors. Targeted communication, public education, and improved access to reliable information are crucial for fostering preventive behaviors. Public health practitioners should not overly concern themselves with political rhetoric, as our study suggests that trust in political authorities may not systematically affect compliance with directives.

Keywords

Humans, COVID-19, Adult, Trust, Female, Male, Young Adult, Brazil, Adolescent, Pandemics, Middle Aged, Mexico, Socioeconomic Factors, Colombia, Chile, Health Behavior, Latin America, SARS-CoV-2, Surveys and Questionnaires, COVID-19, Pandemics, Behavior, Trust

DOI

10.1590/0102-311XEN023824

PMID

39936778

PMCID

PMC11805518

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

2-7-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes