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. 2022 Apr 6;22:662. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-13074-3

Table 2.

Control variables

USA Japan HK
partic_civic (I am involved in local organizations, clubs, and volunteer activities)
  1. never 33% 56% 32%
  2. seldom 28% 24% 32%
  3. sometimes 27% 16% 31%
  4 frequently 12% 4% 5%
vote (Did you vote in the last election?)
  Yes 65% 62% 64%
  No 26% 30% 30%
  prefer not to say 9% 9% 7%
govt_empl (I am a current or former government employee)c
  0 (no) 77% 87% 82%
  1 (yes) 23% 13% 18%
income (What is your personal income before tax?)b
  1.b 15% 41% 11%
  2. (US$15; JPY2000; HK$10) 11% 15% 4%
  3. (US$25; JPY3000; HK$12) 10% 13% 8%
  4. (US$35; JPY4000; HK$15) 12% 10% 14%
  5. (US$50; JPY5000; HK$20) 16% 6% 17%
  6. (US$75; JPY6000; HK$25) 13% 4% 12%
  7. (US$100; JPY7000; HK$30 12% 3% 17%
  8. (US$150; JPY8000; HK$40) 5% 2% 12%
  9. ($US200; JPY9000; HK$60) 6% 6% 6%
educ (What is your highest education qualification?)
  1. High school incomplete or below 4% 2% 3%
  2. High school completed 30% 30% 24%
  3. Polytechnic or college certificate or diploma 13% 20% 12%
  4. University or college undergraduate degree 32% 43% 49%
  5. University postgraduate degree or above 20% 5% 11%
age (how old are you?)
  1. 18–24 13% 9% 13%
  2. 25–34 17% 23% 24%
  3. 35–44 18% 23% 27%
  4. 45–54 18% 22% 22%
  5. 55–64 16% 17% 12%
  6. 65 +  18% 5% 2%
region (Do you live in a)
  City 51% 30% 81%
  Town 31% 28% 13%
  Rural 18% 42% 6%
gender (Identify your gender)
  Male 47% 48% 47%
  Female 49% 51% 53%
  prefer not to say1 4% 1% 0.3%
conservative (on a scale of 1 (more left or liberal) to 5 (more right or conservative), how would you describe your political beliefs?)
  1 Left Liberal 11% 3% 11%
  2 17% 11% 19%
  3 36% 62% 51%
  4 16% 18% 16%
  5 Right Conservative 20% 6% 4%
trust_info (How much trust do you have that information you provide to the government via website or email will be secure?)
  1. no trust 18% 29% 18%
  2. some trust 38% 54% 40%
  3. quite a bit of trust 30% 13% 34%
  4. complete trust 15% 4% 8%

aDue to small numbers of responses, transgender (11 in USA and 3 in Japan) were combined with prefer not to say, giving a total prefer not to say of 43 (USA), 10 (Japan) and 3 (HK)

bIncome ranges were specified in local currencies, with the lower bound indicated here (category 1 is less than the lower bound for category 2). Incomes are annual (USA and Japan) and monthly (HK). Values are in thousands

cGovernment employee was defined for all levels of government (e.g., in USA, federal, state, or municipal/local)