Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0296145
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Autonomous and policy-induced behavior change during the COVID-19 pandemic: Towards understanding and modeling the interplay of behavioral adaptation
Author Zozmann, H.; Schüler, L. ORCID logo ; Fu, X.; Gawel, E. ORCID logo
Source Titel PLOS ONE
Year 2024
Department OEKON; MET
Volume 19
Issue 5
Page From e0296145
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.4232/1.14032
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8267744
Supplements https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296145.s001
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296145.s002
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296145.s003
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296145.s004
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296145.s005
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296145.s006
Abstract Changes in human behaviors, such as reductions of physical contacts and the adoption of preventive measures, impact the transmission of infectious diseases considerably. Behavioral adaptations may be the result of individuals aiming to protect themselves or mere responses to public containment measures, or a combination of both. What drives autonomous and policy-induced adaptation, how they are related and change over time is insufficiently understood. Here, we develop a framework for more precise analysis of behavioral adaptation, focusing on confluence, interactions and time variance of autonomous and policy-induced adaptation. We carry out an empirical analysis of Germany during the fall of 2020 and beyond. Subsequently, we discuss how behavioral adaptation processes can be better represented in behavioral-epidemiological models. We find that our framework is useful to understand the interplay of autonomous and policy-induced adaptation as a “moving target”. Our empirical analysis suggests that mobility patterns in Germany changed significantly due to both autonomous and policy-induced adaption, with potentially weaker effects over time due to decreasing risk signals, diminishing risk perceptions and an erosion of trust in the government. We find that while a number of simulation and prediction models have made great efforts to represent behavioral adaptation, the interplay of autonomous and policy-induced adaption needs to be better understood to construct convincing counterfactual scenarios for policy analysis. The insights presented here are of interest to modelers and policy makers aiming to understand and account for behaviors during a pandemic response more accurately.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=28546
Zozmann, H., Schüler, L., Fu, X., Gawel, E. (2024):
Autonomous and policy-induced behavior change during the COVID-19 pandemic: Towards understanding and modeling the interplay of behavioral adaptation
PLOS One 19 (5), e0296145 10.1371/journal.pone.0296145