Factors Associated With Support for COVID-19 Travel Bans: The Role of Health Beliefs and Multilevel Institutional Trust

This study examined whether the Health Belief Model and the heuristic of multilevel institutional trust would help explain U.S. residents’ support for travel bans on foreigners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of data collected from two nationwide online surveys conducted in 2020 (n = 511 fielded between March 19 and March 27; n = 472 fielded between April 30 and May 13) suggested that support for this policy was associated with individual differences in risk and benefit perceptions, the presence of interpersonal cues, and trust in domestic and foreign institutions. Efforts to promote or resist international travel restrictions during a pandemic may benefit from accounting for these differences. Plain Language Summary There is limited research on the psychological motivators of support for disease control measures that do not require personal action. Focusing on the travel restrictions imposed on foreigners by the U.S. government during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, the current study explored whether the Health Belief Model and the heuristic of multilevel institutional trust would help explain U.S. residents’ support for these restrictions. Analysis of data collected from two nationwide online surveys conducted in 2020 (n = 511 fielded between March 19 and March 27; n = 472 fielded between April 30 and May 13) suggested that support for this policy was associated with individual differences in risk and benefit perceptions, the presence of interpersonal cues, and trust in domestic and foreign institutions. These findings can help national and international institutions in their endeavors to shore up support for their cross-border disease control policies during future outbreaks.