The Psychological Burden of the COVID-19 Pandemic Is Associated With Antisystemic Attitudes and Political Violence

Henrikas Bartusevičius*, Alexander Bor, Frederik Jørgensen, Michael Bang Petersen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

What are the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for people’s political attitudes and behavior? We tested, specifically, whether the psychological burden of the COVID-19 pandemic relates to antisystemic attitudes (dissatisfaction with the fundamental social and political order), peaceful political activism, and political violence. Nationally representative two-wave panel data were collected via online surveys of adults in the United States, Denmark, Italy, and Hungary (ns = 6,131 and 4,568 in Waves 1 and 2, respectively). Overall, levels of antisystemic attitudes were low, and only a small share of interviewees reported behavioral intentions to participate in and actual participation in political violence. However, preregistered analyses indicated that perceived COVID-19 burden was associated with antisystemic attitudes and intentions to engage in political violence. In the United States, the burden of COVID-19 was also associated with self-reported engagement in violence surrounding the Black Lives Matter protests and counterprotests. We found less robust evidence that perceived COVID-19 burden was associated with peaceful activism.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1391-1403
Number of pages13
JournalPsychological Science
Volume32
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Black Lives Matter
  • COVID-19
  • antisystemic attitudes
  • open data
  • open materials
  • police brutality
  • political activism
  • political violence
  • preregistered
  • protest

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