TY - JFULL AU - Ruoya Huang and Ruoxian Huang and Edgar Huang PY - 2021/6/ TI - Social Influences on Americans' Mask-Wearing Behavior during COVID-19 T2 - International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences SP - 539 EP - 548 VL - 15 SN - 1307-6892 UR - https://publications.waset.org/pdf/10012012 PU - World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology NX - Open Science Index 173, 2021 N2 - Based on a convenience sample of 2,092 participants from across all 50 states of the United States, a survey was conducted to explore Americans’ mask-wearing behaviors during COVID-19 according to their political convictions, religious beliefs, and ethnic cultures from late July to early September, 2020. The purpose of the study is to provide evidential support for government policymaking so as to drive up more effective public policies by taking into consideration the variance in these social factors. It was found that the respondents’ party affiliation or preference, religious belief, and ethnicity, in addition to their health condition, gender, level of concern of contracting COVID-19, all affected their mask-wearing habits both in March, the initial coronavirus outbreak stage, and in August, when mask-wearing had been made mandatory by state governments. The study concludes that pandemic awareness campaigns must be run among all citizens, especially among African Americans, Muslims, and Republicans, who have the lowest rates of wearing masks, in order to protect themselves and others. It is recommended that complementary cognitive bias awareness programs should be implemented in non-Black and non-Muslim communities to eliminate social concerns that deter them from wearing masks. ER -