Stigma and Health, Vol 9(2), May 2024, 112-123; doi:10.1037/sah0000473
We examined the contribution of facemask stigma on the preventive practice of mask-wearing and, in turn, to affective well-being from April 2020 to February 2021 in the United States. Our longitudinal investigation clocked “time” with county-level COVID case rates. Further, we explored whether the county-level proportion of residents voting for the Republican nominee in the 2020 U.S. presidential election moderated the relationship between facemask stigma and mask-wearing. Participants (N = 179) contributed up to 24 waves, for a total of 1,458 observations. Multilevel results suggested that, on average, participants wore their facemasks 87% of the time. Barriers to mask-wearing included facemask stigma (−6.41, p p p = .017). A significant Facemask Stigma × Republican Voting interaction portrayed an inverse relationship between facemask stigma and mask-wearing that was strongest in counties least supportive of the 2020 Republican presidential candidate. A second step of the analysis suggested that participants had an average affective well-being score of 3.36 (on a 1–5 scale). Increases in mask-wearing and facemask stigma led to near-zero but statistically significant decreases in affective well-being. A statistically significant Facemask Stigma × COVID Cases interaction effect revealed the sharpest negative effect of facemask stigma on affective well-being when COVID cases were highest. A third step in the analysis indicated that mask-wearing partially mediated the relationship between perceived facemask stigma and affective well-being. Consequently, we must address the stigma associated with health-related behaviors when population-wide participation is necessary. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)