Differences in and associations between belief in just deserts and human rights restrictions over a 3-year period in five countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Michio Murakami; Kai Hiraishi; Mei Yamagata; Daisuke Nakanishi; Andrea Ortolani; Nobuhiro Mifune; Yang Li; Asako Miura

doi:10.7717/peerj.16147

Differences in and associations between belief in just deserts and human rights restrictions over a 3-year period in five countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

PeerJ. 2023 Sep 28:11:e16147. doi: 10.7717/peerj.16147. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Michio Murakami¹, Kai Hiraishi², Mei Yamagata^{1

3

4}, Daisuke Nakanishi⁵, Andrea Ortolani^{6

7}, Nobuhiro Mifune⁸, Yang Li⁹, Asako Miura^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
² Faculty of Letters, Keio University, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
⁴ Faculty of Culture and Information Science, Doshisha University, Kyotanabe, Kyoto (Current Address), Japan.
⁵ The Faculty of Health Sciences, Hiroshima Shudo University, Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan.
⁶ Faculty of Law and Political Science, Rikkyo University, Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
⁷ Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki (Current Address), Japan.
⁸ School of Economics & Management, Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, Kochi, Japan.
⁹ Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.

Abstract

Discrimination, which arose during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak, is a global public health issue. This study aimed to provide fundamental knowledge in proposing control measures to mitigate discrimination. We focused on two psychological variables: belief in just deserts (BJD, i.e., the belief that the infected individual deserves to be infected), a psychological factor that potentially promotes discrimination and prejudice, and human rights restrictions (HRR; i.e., the degree of individuals' agreement with government restrictions on citizens' behavior during emergencies). Differences in these items, as well as their annual trends from 2020 to 2022, were examined in Japan, the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), Italy, and China. In addition, the associations between BJD and HRR by country and year and the direction of the associations between them in Japan and Italy were analyzed. Online surveys were conducted annually, with 392-518 participants per country and year. The BJD was higher in Japan and lower in the UK. BJD increased significantly from 2020 to 2021 in all countries, except in China. Meanwhile, HRR was higher in China and lower in Japan. The HRR decreased from 2020 to 2021 in Japan and decreased from 2020 to 2022 in the US, the UK, and Italy. There were significant positive associations between BJD and HRR in Japan and Italy. Cross-lagged panel models revealed positive bidirectional associations between BJD and HRR in Japan and Italy, respectively, indicating that the HRR declined among those with weak BJD and that the BJD increased among those with high HRR. In Japan and Italy, the dissemination of public messages targeting those with a high HRR in the early stages of an infectious disease outbreak could potentially mitigate the adverse impact of the BJD, eventually reducing discrimination, especially when the infection is not attributed to the fault of the infected individuals.

Keywords: Belief in a just world; Belief in just deserts; COVID-19; Cross-country comparison; Human rights restrictions; Prejudice.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Human Rights
Humans
Italy / epidemiology
Pandemics
United Kingdom / epidemiology
United States / epidemiology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 19H01750 and “The Nippon Foundation - Osaka University Project for Infectious Disease Prevention.” The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.