Popular press outlets have proposed that older individuals are less likely to wear face masks despite health benefits of doing so during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current article investigates this notion in four separate studies, and we also assess the mediating effect of face mask perceptions between age and face mask wearing using the eight-dimension Face Masks Perceptions Scale (FMPS). The sample-size weighted average correlation between age and face mask wearing was -.07 (95%C.I.[-.14, .001], Z-value = -1.928, P = .054, n = 824), indicating that older individuals are slightly less likely to wear face masks compared to younger individuals. Age did not have significant relations with any face mask perceptions, and the mediating effect of face mask perceptions was not robust or consistent. This indicates that the relation between age and face mask wearing is not explained by face mask perceptions, and researchers must turn to other explanatory mechanisms to understand this relation. We propose possible avenues, such as dual-system theories, to further investigate this research question as well as others associated with face mask perceptions, face mask wearing and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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