Skip to main content

Covid-19 compliance behavior of older people: the role of cognitive and non-cognitive skills

Andrew E. Clark, Conchita D'Ambrosio, Ilke Onur and Rong Zhu


This paper examines the empirical relationship between individuals? cognitive and non-cognitive abilities and COVID-19 compliance behaviors using cross-country data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). We find that both cognitive and non-cognitive skills predict responsible health behaviors during the COVID-19 crisis. Episodic memory is the most important cognitive skill, while conscientiousness and neuroticism are the most significant personality traits. There is also some evidence of a role for an internal locus of control in compliance.


1 January 2022


Economics Letters 2102022


DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2021.110158.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176521004304?via%3Dihub

This Journal article is published under the centre's Community Wellbeing programme.