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2021•Unpublished venueOpen access

I do not need to wash my hands because I will go to Heaven anyway: A study on belief in God and the afterlife, death anxiety, and COVID-19 protective behaviors

Dariusz Drążkowski, Radosław Trepanowski

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Abstract

This study examined the relationship between religious beliefs and protective behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. A study was conducted with 551 Polish participants. According to structural equation modeling analysis, being a believer is positively associated with belief in an afterlife, which, like death anxiety, but independent of it, is associated with perceiving COVID-19 as a non-severe disease, which is associated with low fear of COVID-19, and disregard for protective behaviors. Thus, our results allowed us to distinguish belief in God and the afterlife from death anxiety as two independent determinants of compliance with COVID-19 protective behaviors.

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What this paper is about

This study examined the relationship between religious beliefs and protective behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. A study was conducted with 551 Polish participants. According to structural equation modeling analysis, being a believer is positively associated with belief in an afterlife, which, like death anxiety, but independent of it, is associated with perceiving COVID-19 as a non-severe disease, which is associated with low fear of COVID-19, and disregard for protective behaviors. Thus, our results allowed us to distinguish belief in God and the afterlife from death anxiety as two independent determinants of compliance with COVID-19 protective behaviors.

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Available abstract

This study examined the relationship between religious beliefs and protective behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. A study was conducted with 551 Polish participants. According to structural equation modeling analysis, being a believer is positively associated with belief in an afterlife, which, like death anxiety, but independent of it, is associated with perceiving COVID-19 as a non-severe disease, which is associated with low fear of COVID-19, and disregard for protective behaviors. Thus, our results allowed us to distinguish belief in God and the afterlife from death anxiety as two independent determinants of compliance with COVID-19 protective behaviors.

Key concepts: Afterlife, Heaven, Death anxiety, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Psychology, Anxiety, Pandemic, Terror management theory

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I do not need to wash my hands because I will go to Heaven anyway: A study on belief in God and the afterlife, death anxiety, and COVID-19 protective behaviors — Research Paper | ScholarLens