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Frequent mandatory COVID-19 testing increases risky behavior

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Chian Jones Ritten, University of Wyoming; Linda Thunström, University of Wyoming; Todd Cherry, University of Wyoming; J.D. Wulfhorst, University of Idaho

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
COVID_completed_surveys_only.dta application/x-stata-dta 402.7 KB 04/21/2022 08:56:AM
Covid.do text/plain 12.9 KB 04/21/2022 08:40:AM
Supplemental Online Material_Jones Ritten et al.pdf application/pdf 180 KB 04/21/2022 11:35:AM

Project Citation: 

Jones Ritten, Chian, Thunström, Linda, Cherry, Todd, and Wulfhorst, J.D. . Frequent mandatory COVID-19 testing increases risky behavior . Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-04-21. https://doi.org/10.3886/E168241V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Mandatory surveillance testing programs are popular policies aimed to control the spread of SARS-Cov-2. However, if those tested believe that testing protects them from COVID-19, such policies could lead to increased risky behavior that undermines the effectiveness of the policy, and may even increase the spread of the virus. Using data from two large U.S. universities with mandatory testing policies, we find that more frequent mandatory testing is associated with higher participation in events particularly prone to cause COVD-19 spread. Women seem to be driving this relationship, and mediation analyses suggest this is partly due to women’s higher perception of health risks from COVID-19. Our results demonstrate the need to examine the existence of adverse effects from pandemic control policies, both on average and across subgroups in the population, such that, when adopting the policies, measures can be taken to mitigate such unintended consequences.



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Published Versions

V3 [2022-10-17]

V2 [2022-08-11]

V1 [2022-04-21]

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