{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,22]],"date-time":"2026-05-22T14:07:02Z","timestamp":1779458822201,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":59,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,13]],"date-time":"2026-05-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1778630400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The current paper examines how individual\/personality factors are associated with the political legitimacy of government restrictions at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 1262 US-based participants completed an online survey comprising several scales (predictor factors), such as the Just World Scale, the Police Legitimacy Scale, and the Authoritarianism Scale measuring aggression, submission, and conventionalism. In addition, they completed scales measuring their Fear of COVID and Perceptions of Government (outcome factors). The results suggest that those who viewed the president or federal government as most responsible had lower legitimacy scores than those who reported their governor, state government, or local official or government to be responsible. Also, those who aligned with the Republican party had the lowest mean for fear of COVID, while the highest was in the \u201cOther\u201d political affiliation, followed by the Democrats, who had the second highest. It also turned out that whereas one\u2019s relationships with those who have been hospitalized or died as a result of COVID and individual risk factors for COVID were not significant variables in predicting perceptions of the federal government\u2019s handling of the pandemic, the most significant factors were Authoritarianism, Fear of COVID-19, (older) Age, Change in Federal Trust and Political Ideology. Fear of COVID-19 was the only significant factor predicting government legitimacy and individual decisions to engage in protection measures during the pandemic. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs16050765","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,22]],"date-time":"2026-05-22T13:12:08Z","timestamp":1779455528000},"page":"765","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Political Beliefs and Legitimacy of Government Restrictions During the COVID-19 Pandemic"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3016-2118","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marek","family":"Palace","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L2 2QP, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manish","family":"Madan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Stockton University, Galloway, NJ 08205, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4582-7904","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Brandon","family":"May","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5340-9833","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lee","family":"Smith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Health Performance and Wellbeing, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Daly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychological Science, Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, PA 15650, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0417-7527","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sylvia","family":"Terbeck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L2 2QP, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-9002-8887","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Torrin","family":"Jacobson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Psychology, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Altemeyer, B. 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