Integrating sociocultural theories to inform public health response: unique relationships between moral foundations, cultural cognition worldviews, and COVID-19 attitudes and behaviors

Key variables from Moral Foundations Theory and the Cultural Theory of Risk were examined in relationship to COVID-19 attitudes and behaviors. Two surveys were conducted with unvaccinated U. S. adults (<i>n</i> = 1,025) that assessed five moral foundations (<i>care</i>, <i>fairness</i>, <i>authority</i>, <i>loyalty</i>, and <i>purity</i>), two dimensions of Cultural Cognition Worldviews (<i>individualism-communitarianism</i> and <i>hierarchy-egalitarianism</i>), COVID-19 vaccination likelihood and related attitudes (including measures of perceived risk, protective behavior, and trust), political orientation, and demographic characteristics. The individualism-communitarianism scale, derived from the Cultural Theory of Risk, was the most impactful predictor across surveys. When controlling for responses to all other measures, participants who placed greater emphasis on individualism tended to report a lower likelihood of getting a COVID-19 vaccination, to perceive a lower level of risk from COVID-19, and to express greater distrust in the safety of vaccines developed by the government. Many other moral and cultural worldview dimensions were uniquely predictive of COVID-19 attitudes as well, while political orientation and demographic characteristics were generally weak or non-significant in multiple regression models. Findings underscore the sociocultural foundations of health behavior.