biostudies-literatureUnknown1(1)Karakulak AWith the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioural scientists aimed to illuminate reasons why people comply with (or not) large-scale cooperative activities. Here we investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours in a sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease with support towards preventive COVID-19 behaviours would be moderated by trust in the government. Results suggest that the association between fear of disease and support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours was strongest when trust in the government was weak (both at individual- and country-level). Conversely, the association with empathic prosocial concern was strongest when trust in the government was high, but this moderation was only found at individual-level scores of governmental trust. We discuss how motivations may be shaped by socio-cultural context, and outline how findings may contribute to a better understanding of collective action during global crises.Communications psychology43https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11332001biostudies-literatureTrust in government moderates the association between fear of COVID-19 as well as empathic concern and preventive behaviour.PMC11332001Sudarnoto LFHancheva CKabir RSFernandez-Morales RTavitian-Elmadjan LSultana SUka FProt FMastrotheodoros SAyub NAvanesyan HAkaliyski POkati-Aliabad HBaikanova RSkrzypinska KWalter BKazmierczak MAbdelrahman MJanovska AMiconi DMishra SKHusain MSFerenczi NSolomontos-Kountouri OPetrytsa PRiyanti BPDValickiene RPBorchet JBenitez DKrauss SERivera RStanciu AAmin ABuzea CMcGrath BMhizha SSeisembekov TGiordani RCFCassibba RMejia MPeralta EYang PJAruta JJBRBartoluci SKauyzbay ZOrellana CIAndres ADel Pilar Grazioso MYu YBakkar BGindi SFriehs MTGjoneska BGodoy JCStefenel DMoreta-Herrera RRudnev MKhosla MSilletti FGiolo SLandabur REdine WGThome LDZanoni da Silva MWendt GWSuryani AOMakashvili ARasia JJovanovic VIslam MSBodnar IAssiotis MKlicperova-Baker MYıldırım ECong Doanh DHapunda GBacikova-Sleskova MDimitrovska GRGaete JDimitrova RAbdul Kadir NBSharma PPark JYunes MAMNemat AOrellana LMSerapinas DKatovic DStogianni MPavlova IKozina AMechili EALefringhausen KNaterer ABroche-Perez YHihara SMuradyan MStuart JLewandowska-Walter ATair EKawashima TDMusso PKhanna RChen BBCarbonell MMMichalek-Kwiecien JManrique-Millones DMohsen FSamekin AKarl JPalacio LMAAlkamali YABolatov ASugimura KNeto JMalik SNeto FKarakulak AMuhl CDominguez Espinosa ADCLizarzaburu Aguinaga DATepe BJavakhishvili NShukla SAlaseel RSteinmetz LCLLiang YHSolcova IPPisot SGan YBosnar KfalseTrust in government moderates the association between fear of COVID-19 as well as empathic concern and preventive behaviour.With the COVID-19 pandemic, behavioural scientists aimed to illuminate reasons why people comply with (or not) large-scale cooperative activities. Here we investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours in a sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease with support towards preventive COVID-19 behaviours would be moderated by trust in the government. Results suggest that the association between fear of disease and support for COVID-19 preventive behaviours was strongest when trust in the government was weak (both at individual- and country-level). Conversely, the association with empathic prosocial concern was strongest when trust in the government was high, but this moderation was only found at individual-level scores of governmental trust. We discuss how motivations may be shaped by socio-cultural context, and outline how findings may contribute to a better understanding of collective action during global crises.2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Dec2026-05-29T07:09:34.821Z2025-04-06T22:15:46.898ZS-EPMC113320013924286510.1038/s44271-023-00046-5