BRENNAN FRANK

Abstract: The researcher sought to find out whether trust in government affects COVID-19 pandemic response measures in adolescents in the same way prior research suggests it does in adults. Participants were students from Western Pennsylvania high schools and took an online survey in which they answered questions to provide self-reported trust in government scores, compliance with government-recommended pandemic response measure scores, and political affiliation. Contrary to prior findings in the field with adult participants, it was determined that for the study’s sample, trust in government did not affect pandemic response measures while political affiliation had a much higher positive correlation with the measures. Further research is needed with larger and more diverse sample sizes.