Uncertainty and risk during the COVID-19 pandemic: A latent profile analysis

In the present study, we examine how subgroups of people are characterized by different profiles of uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, susceptibility, and recovery. Participants (N = 199) were U.S. residents recruited online for a longitudinal study during the summer of 2020. We first, identified groups using latent profile analysis (LPA) and then examined whether these profiles predicted differences in COVID-related risky and preventative behaviors. LPA identified five distinct profiles of people representing a combination of low and high uncertainty and low, moderate, and high risk perceptions. Results revealed that latent-profile group membership predicted intention to interact with others outside of the household, intention to engage in non-essential shopping, intention to attend an in-person religious gathering, intention to wear a mask in public, and self-reported physical distancing in the past week. Profile membership did not predict intentions to: dine out, go to the nail/hair salon, go to the gym, nor physically distance from others in the future, nor did it predict handwashing in the past week.     

自我肯定缓冲新冠疫情引发的焦虑反应：一项随机对照研究

当个体知觉到环境中存在威胁时,就会自动地引发个体的应激反应。而长期的应激会使个体产生一系列严重的心理和身体健康问题。大量的研究发现肯定自我价值可以缓冲由应激引发的负面情绪和身体反应。本研究通过实验的方法考察了肯定自我价值是否可以降低新冠肺炎(COVID-19)疫情引发的焦虑和抑郁情绪反应。220名被试被随机分配到自我价值肯定任务组或控制任务组,被试在干预前(2月2日)和一个星期后(2月9日)完成焦虑和抑郁测量。研究结果发现相对于控制组在一周后比前测时表现出更严重的焦虑情绪,自我价值肯定组在前测和一周后在焦虑情绪上没有显著的变化,这一效应在控制了性别、年龄、受教育水平和家庭年收入后仍然存在。这些结果表明简短的(约10分钟)对自我价值的反思可以帮助个体缓冲疫情引发的焦虑情绪反应。这一发现对于从社会心理的视角进行疫情防护提供了重要的科学证据。     

The effects of COVID-19 stressors and family life on anxiety and depression one-year into the COVID-19 pandemic

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Coronavirus (COVID-19)-related stressors and family health on adult anxiety and depressive symptoms 1 year into the pandemic. The sample consisted of 442 adults living in the United States who were recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression. Results indicated that compared to a sample 1 month into the pandemic, participants in the current sample reported worse family health and increases in both positive and negative perceptions of the pandemic on family life and routines. COVID-19 stressors and perceived negative effects of the pandemic on family life increased the odds for moderate-to-severe depression and anxiety while having more family health resources decreased the odds for depression and anxiety symptoms. Participants reported lower odds for worse depression and anxiety since the beginning of the pandemic when they reported more positive family meaning due to the pandemic. The results suggest a need to consider the impact of family life on mental health in pandemics and other disasters.     

The effects of social belonging and kindness on stress and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal experiment

Because the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has introduced significant stressors to people's lives, more research on self-directed strategies to cope with pandemic-related stress is needed. In the current longitudinal experiment (N = 614), we investigated the emotional benefits of two self-directed strategies—belonging affirmation and recalling kindness—during the Delta (October 2021) and Omicron (February 2022) waves of the pandemic. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three activity conditions (belonging affirmation, recalling kindness, or control), which they performed weekly for 4 weeks. Contrary to our pre-registered hypothesis, belonging affirmation and recalling kindness did not promote greater well-being overall; however, belonging affirmation led to well-being improvements indirectly via increases in positive emotions. Furthermore, the benefits of belonging affirmation were moderated by pandemic wave. That is, during the Omicron wave, but not the Delta wave, belonging affirmation led to improved life satisfaction, positive emotions, and connectedness, decreased loneliness and negative emotions, and marginally reduced perceived stress and anxiety. These results provide preliminary evidence for the well-being benefits of belonging affirmation and suggest the importance of evaluating coping strategies throughout different stages of a long-term stressor.     

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情下普通民众焦虑的影响因素研究

为考察新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情下普通民众焦虑情绪的影响因素,采用自陈式问卷,对新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情防控下的1050位普通民众的疫情经历、媒体信息暴露时长及性质、疫情风险感知和焦虑进行调查。结果发现新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情防控当下民众焦虑情绪的发生率为18.0%,焦虑情绪的发生率在性别、年龄、受教育程度、婚姻状况和月收入等方面没有显著的差异;疫情经历、媒体信息暴露时长、负面信息暴露和感知疫情的严重性会增加焦虑情绪产生的可能性,正面信息暴露、对疫情熟悉度和可控度的感知可以减少焦虑情绪产生的可能性。这些结果说明了疫情经历、媒体信息暴露时长和性质、疫情风险感知是疫情防控当下民众焦虑出现的重要因素。     

Predictors of relationship satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic

Prior work and theory suggest many vulnerabilities, stressors, and adaptive processes shape relationship satisfaction. In the current research, we used machine learning to understand which constructs have greater predictive importance for perceived changes in satisfaction since the pandemic began and satisfaction over the prior week. In a large sample collected at the beginning of the pandemic (N = 1873; Study 1), relationship processes were most predictive, explaining up to 70% of variance in satisfaction. Feeling appreciative of one's partner and being satisfied with quality time spent with one's partner were consistently top predictors of satisfaction. We also examined whether these important predictors were associated with changes in relationship satisfaction across the first year of the pandemic in a longitudinal subsample (N = 618; Study 2). Appreciation and satisfaction with quality time were associated with high and relatively stable relationship satisfaction over time.     

Drink driving during the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, static roadside random breath testing (RBT) was temporarily suspended between 16 March and 12 June 2020 in Queensland, Australia. In addition to restrictions on travel and social interactions, this provided a unique opportunity to examine changes in drink-driving behaviour during and after a reduction in RBT operations in the community. Three cross-sectional surveys were disseminated at different time points to examine these differences. Over three surveys, 1193 Queensland licensed drivers aged 18 years and over (M = 36.9, SD = 16.7) responded. While overall drink driving decreased over the three survey periods, there were groups where drink driving, or the intention to drink drive, increased over the same period. The overall decrease could be expected as a result of community restrictions on socialising and travel behaviours. In each of the surveys, prior engagement in drink driving was the strongest predictor of intention to increase future engagement and actual engagement. These drink drivers were more likely aged 18–24 years, male, and held restricted licensure. Notably, a small number of participants who reported drink driving, and/or intention to drink drive during the survey period, reported not having engaged in this behaviour previously. This suggested an increased likelihood of drink drivers experiencing punishment avoidance which may promote future engagement in this behaviour. Despite a decrease in social opportunities to drink, and the suspension of highly visible roadside breath testing sites, drink driving persisted. This research highlights the importance of RBTs as a general deterrent for drink driving.     

Safety behaviors were associated with greater anxious symptoms during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Research shows that people who use safety behaviors are at greater risk factor for anxiety than people who do not use safety behaviors. However, the perception of some safety behaviors changed during the COVID-19 pandemic; behaviors that were once considered unnecessary or excessive were now commonplace (e.g., monitoring bodily symptoms, avoiding crowds). The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which the pandemic changed the status of health-related safety behaviors as a risk factor for symptoms of anxiety. To this end, we tested the effect of safety behavior use on anxious symptoms during the first year of the pandemic using a longitudinal design with 8 time points and participants (n = 233) from over 20 countries. Despite possible changes in their perception, those engaging in high levels of safety behaviors reported the greatest levels of anxious symptoms throughout the pandemic year. However, the outcomes for safety behavior users were not all negative. Safety behavior use at baseline was the only predictor of participants' willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine (measured one year later).     

Neuroticism and emotional risk during the COVID-19 pandemic

Large-scale health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may evoke negative affective responses, which are linked to psychological maladjustment and psychopathology. Here, we shed light on the role of the personality trait neuroticism in predicting who experiences negative affective responses. In a large-scale experience-sampling study (N = 1,609; 38,120 momentary reports), we showed that individuals high in neuroticism experienced more negative affect and higher affective variability in their daily lives. Individuals high in neuroticism also (a) paid more attention to COVID-19-related information and worried more about the consequences of the pandemic (crisis preoccupation), and (b) experienced more negative affect during this preoccupation (affective reactivity). These findings offer new insights into the consequences and dynamics of neuroticism in extreme environmental contexts.     

Evaluating the Covid-19 pandemic: The role of moral disengagement

The COVID-19 pandemic affected daily life worldwide. We examined how individuals perceived these changes. We expected the propensity to morally disengage (MD) to predict a less negative view of the pandemic via lower perspective-taking and compassion. As predicted, the results of a cross-sectional study (N = 717) show that alongside dispositional optimism, MD was associated with perceiving the pandemic in a less negative manner. Unexpectedly, the proposed mediating effects were not found. Exploratory results showed that MD predicted existential security directly and quality of life indirectly via lower compassion. Altogether, MD may provide some benefits in terms of pandemic perceptions.     

Predicting Compliance with Sanitary Behaviors among Students in Higher Education During the Second COVID-19 Wave: The Role of Health Anxiety and Risk Perception

To limit the spread of COVID-19, public authorities have recommended sanitary behaviors such as handwashing, mask-wearing, physical distancing, and social distancing. We recruited a large sample of higher education students in Belgium (N = 3201–3441) to investigate the role of sociodemographic variables, mental health, previous COVID-19 infections, academic involvement, and risk perception on adherence to these sanitary behaviors. This cross-sectional study took place during the second COVID-19 wave in Belgium, between February and March 2021. Analyses showed that living alone, being female, later in the academic curriculum, having higher general and health anxiety, higher academic involvement, and higher risk perception were positively associated with adherence to the four aforementioned sanitary behaviors. Conversely, previous infection with COVID-19 and having been quarantined were negative predictors. Our results show a set of predictors highly similar for the four sanitary behaviors. We discuss potential initiatives to increase adherence to sanitary behaviors in this group of highly educated youngsters.     

Individual differences and changes in personality during the COVID-19 pandemic

This article reports the results of an eleven-wave longitudinal study of personality change conducted between December 2019 and December 2022 with 1328 participants in Germany. Based on theories of personality change, we investigated trajectories of big five personality factors (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness) across the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we examined whether demographic characteristics (i.e., age, sex), self-reported health status (i.e., physical, mental), and socioeconomic status (i.e., education, income, industry) moderated these trajectories. There was evidence for increases in extraversion, conscientiousness, and emotional stability and decreases in openness across time. The magnitude of these effects suggests between d = 0.027 to 0.138 standard deviation changes in these personality characteristics across the 3-year timeframe of this study. Evidence for moderating effects of age, sex, health, and socioeconomic status was mixed, but indicates differential patterns of personality change for certain individuals. Overall, findings suggest that changes in big five personality factors across the COVID-19 were present, albeit on average relatively weak, but still higher than anticipated given the timeframe. Moreover, certain demographic and health variables were associated with differential trajectories of personality over time.     

Fear of missing out and depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments issued public health safety measures (e.g., “stay-at-home” ordinances), leaving many people “missing out” on integral social aspects of their own lives. The fear of missing out, popularly shortened as, “FoMO,” is a felt sense of unease one experiences when they perceive they may be missing out on rewarding and/or enjoyable experiences. Among 76 participants (ages M = 69.36, SD = 5.34), who were at risk for hospitalization or death if infected with COVID-19, we found that FoMO was associated with depressive symptoms at Time 1, even when controlling for perceived stress, loneliness, and fear of COVID-19. However, FoMO did not predict future depressive symptoms, about 1 week later, when controlling for Time 1 depressive symptoms. These findings provide further evidence that FoMO is associated with depressive symptoms in a short period of time even when accounting for other powerful social factors such as loneliness. Future research should explore the potential causal relationships between FoMO and depression, especially those that may establish temporal precedence.     

Goal disruption during COVID-19: Reimagining goals during a global pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major source of professional and personal disruption and has had both direct and downstream consequences on almost every aspect of peoples' lives, including their personal goal pursuits. In the face of unexpected hardships and obstacles, people have had to find new paths to goal achievement. In the present work, we examined whether difficulty adjusting goal pursuit during the global disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic is related to negative affective, cognitive, and behavioral goal-related outcomes. Across two studies, we found that people who had more difficulty adjusting their goal pursuit during the pandemic experienced more negative feelings toward their goals, were less satisfied with the status of their goals, and were less likely to actually achieve their goals. Moreover, individual differences in planning tendencies, need for predictability, general adaptability, and perceived pandemic disruption were related to more difficulty adjusting goal pursuit. This work demonstrates the importance of flexibility in the face of setbacks and obstacles, especially during times of disruption and uncertainty.     

Lower class people suffered more (but perceived fewer risk disadvantages) during the COVID-19 pandemic

Does COVID-19 affect people of all classes equally? In the current research, we focus on the social issue of risk inequality during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a nationwide survey conducted in China (N = 1,137), we predicted and found that compared to higher-class individuals, lower-class participants reported a stronger decline in self-rated health as well as economic well-being due to the COVID-19 outbreak. At the same time, we examined participants' beliefs regarding the distribution of risks. The results demonstrated that although lower-class individuals were facing higher risks, they expressed lesser belief in such a risk inequality than their higher-class counterparts. This tendency was partly mediated by their stronger endorsement of system-justifying beliefs. The findings provide novel evidence of the misperception of risk inequality among the disadvantaged in the context of COVID-19. Implications for science and policy are discussed.     

Clinical experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Most of the clinical experiences discussed in this article arose from monthly Zoom meetings at Rome’s Italian Centre of Analytical Psychology (CIPA). We set up a discussion group in April 2020, one month after lockdown began in Italy, and these monthly online meetings continue to this day. All senior analysts and analysts-in-training at Rome’s CIPA, whose backgrounds range from child and adolescent psychotherapy to adult psychotherapy and analysis, to sandplay therapy and medicine and psychiatry, have been participating in these meetings. The group discussions focus on the present time and its impact on us, as well as on our relationships with patients. By further developing these reflections during the lockdown in Italy (9 March - 3 May 2020), it is fair to ask whether a sense of unreality, depersonalization, or derealization has occurred, either in the therapist or patient, and if so, whether it is possible that therapists miss the human contact more than clients. We will mainly refer to clinical and personal experiences as our most precious guidelines.     

Tracing memories and meanings of festival landscapes during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 has deeply affected mass gatherings and travel and, in the process, has transformed festivals, festival landscapes, and people's sense of place in relation to such events. In this article we argue that it is important to better understand how people's memories of festival landscapes are affected by these larger shifts. We worked from the premise that information-rich cases could provide some initial insights in this respect. To that end, we interviewed seven individuals who are regular and longstanding in their engagement with festivals in one place, lutruwita/Tasmania, the island state of Australia. Key findings suggest that pandemic experiences mediate the range of meanings participants give to festival landscapes and their interpretations of such landscapes can be described as attachments and detachments, encounters, and reorientations. We conclude by proposing that participants' efforts to draw on memories, reflect on emotional geographies, and recast autobiographies help them adjust to crises, rethink their ways of moving to and from festival sites, and reframe their sense of place in relation to significant cultural events. Such insights have application beyond both the island state and the participants involved.     

Trust in God: The COVID-19 Pandemic's Impact on Religiosity in China

Emerging research shows the COVID-19 pandemic has made substantial changes to the religious climate of several nations. Surprisingly, China, the outbreak center of the pandemic, has been scarcely researched. Our study investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic has evoked new religious disaster responses and provided psychological coping mechanisms during the pandemic. We also explore how the pandemic explains surprising rates of religiosity in China. Scholars have long proposed that religious resurgence in China has been a result of individuals seeking stability in turbulent times. We bridge parallel Literatures in these areas and treat the pandemic as a natural experiment for evaluating religious behavior over time as conditioned by heightened risk perception. Utilizing a difference-in-differences estimation strategy with panel data, our study reveals that the pandemic has led to a significant increase in religiosity in China, particularly in religious areas most affected by the pandemic. We propose that even in a highly regulative religious environment, with most of its population being religiously unaffiliated, religion is a significant resource for coping in China. We take an innovative approach to demonstrate this by utilizing online search data. Our research speaks to the sociology of religion, the social psychology of risk perception, and makes application to emerging research on the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic.