ArticlePloS one2020
Disease avoidance in the time of COVID-19: The behavioral immune system is associated with concern and preventative health behaviors.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 156 citations in OpenAlex.
- In vivo Assessment of the Potential Protective Effects of Traditional Kumis Against SARS-CoV-2 in a Transgenic Mouse Model.Food and environmental virology · 2026Article
- Effects of fundamental social motives on environmental variation of compliance during pandemics.Evolutionary human sciences · 2026Article
- Protective but Costly: The Impact of Behavioral Immune System Reactivity on Mental Health.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Predicting Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Leading Influence of Environmental Attitudes.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The perceived COVID-19 pandemic risk and mental distress in China: the mediating role of interpersonal trust and the moderating role of social cohesion.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Exploring predictors of COVID-19 precautionary behaviors during the initial rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in a predominately Hispanic sample.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Article
- COVID-19 Related Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors Among Black Men with Chronic Health Conditions: A Latent Profile Analysis.Social work in public health · 2024Article
- Psychological and psychosocial determinants of COVID-related handwashing behaviours: A systematic review.Campbell systematic reviews · 2024Review
- Germ aversion is a risk factor for chronic low back pain and shoulder pain under the COVID-19 pandemic: an internet-based panel study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Understanding COVID-19-Related Behaviors, Worries, and Attitudes among Chinese: Roles of Personality and Severity.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Exploring the COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAPs) in the Black Community: a Scoping Review.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024Article
- Self-quarantining, social distancing, and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A multi wave, longitudinal investigation.PloS one · 2024Article
- COVID-19 and friendships: Agreeableness and neuroticism are associated with more concern about COVID-19 and friends' risky behaviors.Personality and individual differences · 2023Article
- I Got it. Perceived Infectability and Germ Aversion after Covid-19 Infection.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2023Article
- COVID-19 vaccination and the behavioral immune system: The newcomer and the old friend get along in preventing infection.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
- Predictors and motives for mask-wearing behavior and vaccination intention.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Correlates of COVID-19 Preventative Behaviors before and after Vaccination Availability.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Coronavirus-Related Searches on the Internet Predict COVID-19 Vaccination Rates in the Real World: A Behavioral Immune System Perspective.Social psychological and personality science · 2023Article
- Pandemic elevates sensitivity to moral disgust but not pathogen disgust.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Is disgust proneness prospectively associated with influenza vaccine hesitancy and uptake?Journal of behavioral medicine · 2023Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses a serious global health threat. Without a vaccine, behavior change is the most effective means of reducing disease transmission. Identifying psychological factors that may encourage engagement in preventative health behaviors is crucial. The behavioral immune system (BIS) represents a set of psychological processes thought to promote health by encouraging disease avoidance behaviors. This study examined whether individual differences in BIS reactivity (germ aversion, pathogen disgust sensitivity) were associated with concern about COVID-19 and engagement in recommended preventative health behaviors (social distancing, handwashing, cleaning/disinfecting, avoiding touching face, wearing facemasks). From March 20 to 23, 2020, a US national sample (N = 1019) completed an online survey. Germ aversion and pathogen disgust sensitivity were the two variables most consistently associated with COVID-19 concern and preventative health behaviors, while accounting for demographic, health, and psychosocial covariates. Findings have implications for the development of interventions intended to increase preventative health behaviors.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.