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Belief in Science and Beliefs about COVID-19 : Educational Gradients Qian, Yue; Xie, Yu; Jin, Yongai

Abstract

Prior research has attributed the socio-economic disparity in COVID-19 infections to differences in degrees of exposure or economic resources. This study proposes beliefs about COVID-19 as a potential additional explanation. We conducted a nationally representative US survey with six measures of COVID-19 beliefs. Socio-economic status was measured through educational level. Compared with less-educated respondents, highly educated respondents treat COVID-19 more seriously, including believing in (1) face mask use, (2) asymptomatic transmission, (3) media non-exaggeration, (4) the necessity of stay-at-home orders, (5) a likelihood of themselves being infected with COVID-19 and (6) no protection of God against COVID-19. The educational gradient in COVID-19 beliefs was largely explained by differential levels of belief in science across education. Our findings suggest that encouraging public trust in science can potentially reduce the educational gradient in COVID-19 infections in the USA.

Item Metadata

Title
Belief in Science and Beliefs about COVID-19 : Educational Gradients
Creator
Qian, Yue; Xie, Yu; Jin, Yongai
Date Issued
2022
Description
Prior research has attributed the socio-economic disparity in COVID-19 infections to differences in degrees of exposure or economic resources. This study proposes beliefs about COVID-19 as a potential additional explanation. We conducted a nationally representative US survey with six measures of COVID-19 beliefs. Socio-economic status was measured through educational level. Compared with less-educated respondents, highly educated respondents treat COVID-19 more seriously, including believing in (1) face mask use, (2) asymptomatic transmission, (3) media non-exaggeration, (4) the necessity of stay-at-home orders, (5) a likelihood of themselves being infected with COVID-19 and (6) no protection of God against COVID-19. The educational gradient in COVID-19 beliefs was largely explained by differential levels of belief in science across education. Our findings suggest that encouraging public trust in science can potentially reduce the educational gradient in COVID-19 infections in the USA.
Subject
Belief in science; Beliefs about COVID-19; COVID-19; COVID-19 beliefs; Education; United States
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2023-01-25
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0423561
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/83747
Affiliation
Arts, Faculty of; Non UBC; Sociology, Department of
Citation
Qian, Y., Xie, Y., & Jin, Y. (2022). Belief in Science and Beliefs about COVID-19: Educational Gradients. Sociology, 56(4), 800–810.
Publisher DOI
10.1177/00380385221091129
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International