Exploring personality correlates of falsification of COVID-19 lateral flow tests through vignettes.

ABSTRACT: Regular testing using rapid antigen lateral flow tests (LFTs) was an important prevention strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, falsification of home LFTs was a concern. Using a large quota-representative sample of adults (n = 1295) in England, we conducted a vignette survey consisting of four hypothetical scenarios of LFT falsification behaviours (FBs) to examine whether prosocial personality traits were associated with attitudes towards and intentions for falsifying home LFTs during the pandemic. Results show that higher levels of affective empathy for people vulnerable to COVID-19 and Honesty-Humility from the HEXACO model of Personality are associated with non-acceptability of LFT FBs and intentions to not engage with them. However, affective empathy explained more of

SUBMITTER: Ray D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12381394 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature