Anti-Black attitudes predict decreased concern about COVID-19 among Whites in the U.S. and Brazil.

RATIONALE

From the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials and news organizations reported pervasive racial disparities in the infection, morbidity, and mortality of the virus. In both the U.S. and Brazil, Black, Native, and mixed-race individuals were more negatively impacted by COVID-19 than White people. Simultaneously, significant social factions downplayed the threat and insisted on living "normally". We examined how these two factors coexisted.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to establish whether Whites' anti-Black attitudes predicted their concern about the pandemic and tendency to behave in ways that exacerbated the pandemic.

METHODS

and Results: In five studies, conducted in two countries (total N = 3425), we found that anti-Black attitudes (above and beyond political orientation, White racial identification, and perceptions of racial disparities) were associated with less concern about COVID-19, lower adoption of health and social distancing behaviors, and greater interest in returning to normalcy.

DISCUSSION

We discuss how efforts to combat anti-Blackness may improve the health of the general population.