COVID-19 and Actor Well-being: A Serial Mediated Moderation of Mask Usage and Personal Health Engagement

Abstract

Wearing of face mask has become the new norm and a requirement for accessing public spaces. The current study explored the drives of self-regulation towards the purchase and use of face masks for actor wellbeing and public safety. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey approach. Data from 1859 participants sampled specifically from lockdown areas are the backbone of this study. We drew inspiration from the self-regulation theory and the trending slogan "any mask is better than no mask" to propose a model based on the fear of COVID-19 and actor wellbeing. We adopted Hayes' PROCESS macro in analyzing the proposed model. The findings confirmed that the fear of COVID-19 (β=.78, p<.001) invokes actors' self-regulation and alters attitudes (β=.521 p<.001) to drives mask purchase intentions and use significantly. We also re-echoed the role of self-efficacy in the behavioral change decision-making under threatening conditions. The models explained a total variance of 80% in explaining how the fear of COVID-1D invokes an individual's behavioral change towards public safety and actor wellbeing. Policymakers, wellbeing psychologists, and healthcare practitioners can leverage the finding in this work to understand the antecedents that promote people's behavioral change towards psychological and physical wellbeing, such as that which come with COVID-19 and mask use. In particular, face mask advocates can leverage this paper's fear and wellbeing understanding in their promotional and educational exercises. We recommend reconsidering mask use protocols to support the slogan "Any Mask is Better Than No Mask."