Table 3.

Variables predicting attitudes toward COVID policies in June and December 2022 – direct relations.

	Attitude toward zero-COVID						Attitude toward relaxing restrictions
	June 10–13, 2022 (N = 460)			December 2, 2022 (N = 450)			June 10–13, 2022 (N = 460)			December 2, 2022 (N = 450)
	B	SE	β	B	SE	β	B	SE	β	B	SE	β
Control variable
Gender (1 = male, 2 = female)	−0.13	0.07	−.06+	−0.14	0.08	−.05+	0.12	0.09	.04	0.05	0.10	.02
Age (year)	0.01	0.00	.04	0.00	0.01	−.00	0.00	0.01	.01	0.00	0.01	−.02
Education (year)	−0.01	0.01	−.02	−0.03	0.02	−.04	−0.02	0.01	−.03	0.01	0.03	−.01
Annual income (1 = RMB10,000)	−0.00	0.01	−.02	0.00	0.01	−.03	−0.01	0.01	−.05	−0.00	0.01	−.02
Political philosophy	0.02	0.03	.02	−0.06	0.03	−.07∗	−0.02	0.03	−.02	0.06	0.03	.06+
Antecedent variable
Perceived susceptibility	−0.03	0.02	−.05	0.06	0.03	.08∗	0.02	0.03	.02	0.04	0.03	.04
Perceived severity	0.23	0.03	.23∗∗∗	0.17	0.04	.16∗∗∗	−0.15	0.05	−.12∗∗∗	−0.12	0.05	−.09∗∗
WeChat use	0.05	0.02	.08+	0.07	0.03	.12∗	0.07	0.03	.09∗	0.03	0.03	.04
Mainstream media use	0.06	0.03	.09∗	0.03	0.03	.05	−0.04	0.03	−.05	−0.02	0.03	−.03
Mediating variable
Positive health consequence	0.55	0.05	.39∗∗∗	0.33	0.05	.25∗∗∗	0.49	0.04	.47∗∗∗	0.39	0.04	.37∗∗∗
Disruption to economy	−0.09	0.03	−.12∗∗∗	−0.15	0.03	−.17∗∗∗	−0.12	0.03	−.13∗∗∗	−0.15	0.04	−.13∗∗∗
Fear of the process	−0.25	0.03	−.34∗∗∗	−0.34	0.03	−.39∗∗∗	−0.31	0.04	−.30∗∗∗	−0.43	0.04	−.44∗∗∗

Note. ⁺ p < .10, ^∗p < .05, ^∗∗p < .01, ^∗∗∗p < .001. WeChat and mainstream media use were measured in minutes and were divided by 10 (i.e., 1 = 10 min). All other scale values ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Model statistics: zero-COVID in June: R² = 0.57, F(12, 447) = 48.6, p < .001; zero-COVID in December: R² = 0.58, F(12, 437) = 49.4, p < .001; relaxing restrictions in June: R² = 0.58, F(12, 447) = 52.2, p < .001; relaxing restrictions in December: R² = 0.63, F(12, 437) = 61.8, p < .001.