"Abstract
In the current context of the global pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), health professionals are working with social scientists to inform government policy on how to slow the spread of the virus. An increasing amount of social scientific research has looked at the role of public message framing, for instance, but few studies have thus far examined the role of individual differences in emotional and personality-based variables in predicting virus-mitigating behaviors. In this study, we recruited a large international community sample (N = 324) to complete measures of self-perceived risk of contracting COVID-19, fear of the virus, moral foundations, political orientation, and behavior change in response to the pandemic. Consistently, the only predictor of positive behavior change (e.g., social distancing, improved hand hygiene) was fear of COVID-19, with no effect of politically relevant variables. We discuss these data in relation to the potentially functional nature of fear in global health crises."
Main text
"... In spite of us still only being in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, a rapidly growing body of research into social responses to the virus is emerging. This research examines how to encourage prosocial and virus-mitigating responses (e.g., social distancing, or the non-hoarding of food and household supplies, and good hand hygiene)...
[O]ne unique feature of pandemic viral infections is the fear that they can instill across large swathes of the population. Fear is a negative emotion symptomized by extreme levels of emotive avoidance in relation to specific stimuli. It is associated with clinical phobias and social anxiety disorder, and as such the potential for widespread public fear caused by pandemic viral infections could lead to significant levels of mental distress at the population level... In spite of the documented negative wellbeing implications of fear and anxiety, these negative emotions do also motivate a range of behaviors that reduce the engagement in risky behaviors...
Discussion
The current study explored psychological predictors of behavior change and fear in response to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. We found relationships between behavior change and the new FCV-19S scale, DSM-based anxiety and depression measures, and self-perceived risk of contracting the virus. Critically, these relationships were generally positive, in that those participants who were more concerned about COVID-19 (as measured by the FCV-19S) were those who engaged more with public health-compliant behaviors (e.g., regular hand washing, and social distancing)... [F]ear of COVID-19 was related to decreased physical and environmental wellbeing. Overall, these results suggest that 'fear' and anxiety at the current time have a functional role, and are related to increased compliance for improving public wellbeing."
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