Psychosocial determinants of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 135910532110309
Author(s):  
Rachael N. Wright ◽  
Leonard Faul ◽  
John L. Graner ◽  
Gregory W. Stewart ◽  
Kevin S. LaBar

Pandemic health threats can cause considerable anxiety, but not all individuals react similarly. To understand the sources of this variability, we applied a theoretical model developed during the H1N1 pandemic of 2009 to quantify relationships among intolerance of uncertainty, stress appraisals, and coping style that predict anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed 1579 U.S. Amazon Mechanical Turk workers in April 2020. Using structural equation modeling, we found that individuals who were more intolerant of uncertainty reported higher appraisals of threat, stress, and other-control, which predicted higher anxiety when emotion-focused coping was engaged, and lower anxiety when problem-focused coping was engaged. Political affiliation moderated these effects, such that conservatives relied more on self-control and other-control appraisals to mitigate anxiety than independents or liberals. These results show that how people appraise and cope with their stress interacts with political ideology to shape anxiety in the face of a global health threat.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Emily Schwartz ◽  
Roland B. Stark ◽  
Katrina Borowiec ◽  
Bruce D. Rapkin

Abstract PurposeThis study evaluated the differential impact of stressors and psychosocial resources on quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes, and investigated whether attitudes, perspectives, and behaviors relevant to wellness protect one from the negative and positive aspects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID) pandemic.MethodsThis cross-sectional study done Spring/Summer 2020 recruited patients and caregivers of people with chronic medical conditions, and a nationally representative comparison sample of United States adults. Linear regression investigated the associations between COVID-specific variables and QOL outcomes, after covariate adjustment. Structural Equation Modeling investigated whether the links between Resilience and COVID-specific variables were mediated by attitudes, perspectives, and behaviors relevant to wellness.ResultsThe sample seemed knowledgeable of and adherent to the practices endorsed by public-health experts. COVID-specific Hardship, Interpersonal Conflict, and Worry were associated with worse QOL outcomes, and Growth, Social Support, and Coping were associated with better. Wellness was the most salient predictor of Resilience, functioning both as a main effect and mediator for COVID-specific predictors. People with lower levels of Worry and/or higher levels of Social Support tended to have better-than-expected daily performance in the face of the pandemic. These two predictors acted in large part through the attitudes, perspectives, and behaviors relevant to Wellness.ConclusionOur findings support the idea that cultivating Wellness by dint of one’s perspective, attitudes, and behaviors can be an important buffer to challenging times during a pandemic. Wellness seems to support resilience in its own right in addition to being a mechanism through which other factors can do so.


2001 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marja Kokkonen ◽  
Lea Pulkkinen ◽  
Taru Kinnunen

The study was part of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, underway since 1968, in which children's low self-control of emotions was studied using teacher ratings at age 8 in terms of inattentiveness, shifting moods, aggression, and anxiety. The study was based on data from 112 women and 112 men who participated in the previous data collections at ages 8, 27, and 36. At age 27, the participants had been assessed in Neuroticism (N) using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire , and at age 36 they filled in several inventories measuring, among others, conscious and active attempts to repair negative emotions in a more positive direction as well as physical symptoms. The present study used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesis that personality characteristics indicating low self-control of emotions at ages 8 and 27 are antecedents of self-reported physical symptoms at age 36; and that this relationship is indirect, mediated by attempts to repair negative emotions in a more positive direction. The findings showed, albeit for men only, that inattentiveness at age 8 was positively related to self-reported physical symptoms at age 36 via high N at age 27 and low attempts to repair negative emotions at age 36. Additionally, N at age 27 was directly linked to self-reported physical symptoms at age 36. The mediation of an active attempt to repair negative emotions was not found for women. Correlations revealed, however, that shifting moods and aggression in girls were antecedents of self-reported physical symptoms in adulthood, particularly, pain and fatigue.


1997 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 138-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Mcdonald ◽  
Thomas K. Gregoire ◽  
John Poertner ◽  
Theresa J. Early

In this article we describe the results of an ongoing effort to better understand the caregiving process in families of children with severe emotional problems. We make two assumptions. First, we assume that these families are essentially like other families but are faced with a special challenge in raising and caring for their special children while at the same time performing the multiple tasks and demands faced by all families. Second, we assume that public policy and programs must be supportive of the care of these children in their own homes and communities whenever possible. The purpose of this article is to present a model of family caregiving that draws broadly from available theory and empirical literature in multiple fields and to subject this model to empirical testing. We use structural equation modeling with latent variables to estimate an empirical model based on the theoretical model. Results of the model testing point to the importance of the child's external problem behaviors and the family's socioeconomic status and coping strategies as determinants of caregiver stress. Other findings highlight difficulties in measuring and modeling the complex mediating process, which includes formal and informal supports, perceptions, and coping behaviors. The use of structural equation modeling can benefit our efforts to support families by making explicit our theories about the important dimensions of this process and the relationship between these dimensions, which can then be subjected to measurement and validation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shadi Mohammad Altahat ◽  
Tarik Atan

(1) Background: Long-term competitiveness and sustainability of goal achievement are constantly being sought out by organizations. This study examined the link between ethical leadership, intention to sabotage, and psychological capital in Jordanian universities and how they provide a healthy environment conducive to goal achievement sustainability. The literature indicated gaps in knowledge regarding the correlation between these variables in non-western countries, which this study intends to fill. The study drew from social learning theory and self-control theory. (2) Methods: Data was obtained by collecting survey questionnaires from a sample of 376 employees in different universities in the north of Jordan, and was analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Structural Equation Modeling. (3) Results: A significant and direct negative relationship was found between both ethical leadership and psychological capital on employees’ intention to sabotage. Also, a significant and direct positive effect was found between ethical leadership and psychological capital. Furthermore, it was found that psychological capital mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and employees’ intention to sabotage. (4) Conclusions: Leaders have a critical role in increasing employee psychological capital and decreasing intention to sabotage. Many implications indicated by the study’s findings, both theoretical and practical, were discussed.


Author(s):  
Esmaeil Sadri Damirchi ◽  
Arezoo Mojarrad ◽  
Saeed Pireinaladin ◽  
Andrej M M Grjibovski

Objective: Nowadays, the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) is one of the most stressful resources that has led to the rise of different levels of psychological crisis. In addition to the countries affected by the COVID-19, such as China, European and American countries, Iran has appeared as one of the most affected countries with high infected cases and deaths. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of self-talk in predicting death anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and coping strategies in the face of COVID-19. Method: This descriptive and correlational study was conducted on 354 adults living in Ardabil, Iran, who were selected using cluster sampling from 21 January to 19 March 2020. Self-Talk questionnaires, Coping Strategies, Death Anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsive questionnaires were used for data collection. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression were used for data analysis. Results: The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between self-talk and problem-centered coping style. Also, significant negative relationships were found between self-talk and emotional coping style, death anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Furthermore, based on the results of the regression test, self-talk predicted problem-centered style, emotional-coping style, death anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Conclusion: The results of this study emphasize the need for psychological crisis intervention during the COVID-19 outbreak. Also, this study provides an important step in shifting attention to self-talk skills from sport psychology fields toward clinical psychology, especially about the mental impacts of COVID-19.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Wei ◽  
Avery L. Russell ◽  
Abigail R. Jarrett ◽  
Tia-Lynn Ashman

AbstractHow pollinators mediate microbiome assembly in the anthosphere is a major unresolved question of theoretical and applied importance in the face of anthropogenic disturbance. We addressed this question by linking visitation of diverse pollinator functional groups (bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, beetles, true bugs and other taxa) to the key properties of floral microbiome (microbial α- and β-diversity and microbial network) under agrochemical disturbance, using a field experiment of bactericide and fungicide treatments on cultivated strawberries that differ in flower abundance. Structural equation modeling was used to link agrochemical disturbance and flower abundance to pollinator visitation to floral microbiome properties. Our results revealed that (1) pollinator visitation influenced the α- and β-diversity and network centrality of floral microbiome, with different pollinator functional groups affecting different microbiome properties; (2) flower abundance influenced floral microbiome both directly by governing the source pool of microbes and indirectly by enhancing pollinator visitation; and (3) agrochemical disturbance affected floral microbiome primarily directly by fungicide, and less so indirectly via pollinator visitation. These findings improve the mechanistic understanding of floral microbiome assembly, and may be generalizable to many other plants that are visited by diverse insect pollinators in natural and managed ecosystems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-104
Author(s):  
Sukarni Novita Sari

Tourism sector became strategic and significant when it taken seriously and done professionally. Selling tourism products and services need not only a coordination, but a good cooperation between all organizations that are responsible for developing tourism sector and all parties involved or associated with tourism activities. One effort that can be done is to develop a marketing strategy that is expected to attract tourists back and also can create self-satisfaction in tourists.To obtain optimal results, this marketing strategy has a broad scope in the field of marketing of which is a strategy in the face of competition, pricing strategy, product strategy, service strategy and so on. Therefore, this study will analyze about the influence of marketing strategies and quality of service to tourist satisfaction.The method used in this research is quantitative with the questionnaire as a data collection tool to obtain the responses of the respondents regarding the variables in this study. The data analysis technique used in this research is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Respondents involved in this study are 120 tourists that also customers of CV Ryzqi Samudra.The research proves that the marketing strategy has a positive and significant impact on the quality of services and satisfaction of tourists. Variable quality of service also has a positive and significant impact on tourist satisfaction.


2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J.I. Schellenberg ◽  
Patrick Gaudreau ◽  
Peter R.E. Crocker

This study examined the relationship between harmonious and obsessive passion and coping, and assessed whether coping mediated the relationship between passion types and changes in burnout and goal attainment. College- and university-level volleyball players (N = 421) completed measures of passion, coping, burnout, and goal attainment at the start and end of a season. Results of structural equation modeling, using a true latent change approach, supported a model whereby types of passion were indirectly related to changes in burnout and goal attainment via coping. Harmonious passion was positively related to task-oriented coping which, in turn, was positively associated with change in goal attainment. Obsessive passion was positively associated with disengagement-oriented coping which, in turn, was positively and negatively associated with changes in burnout and goal attainment, respectively. This study identifies coping as a reason why passionate athletes may experience changes in burnout and goal attainment over the course of a season.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunin Baek ◽  
Jason A. Nicholson ◽  
George E. Higgins

Researchers in criminal justice literature have relatively underexamined the delinquency among Native American (NA) youth. Using data from the Drug Use Among Young Indians: Epidemiology and Prediction study, the present study tested assumptions in Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory. This study found evidence supporting the theory. Low self-control was a significant predictor to NA adolescents’ delinquency. However, parental intervention as an opportunity measure and it was not a mediation between low self-control and delinquency. Moreover, while parental intervention significantly decreased delinquency by female adolescents, parental intervention significantly increased delinquency by male adolescents. In addition, the mediation effect in structural equation modeling for males occurred; in contrast, the effect in the female model did not happen. On the other hand, low self-control was still the crucial predictor to adolescents’ delinquency across gender. Thus, future studies will need to account for the etiology of NA adolescents’ delinquency across gender using different approaches.


2020 ◽  
pp. 001112872096850
Author(s):  
Saeed Kabiri ◽  
Jaeyong Choi ◽  
Seyyedeh Masoomeh (Shamila) Shadmanfaat ◽  
Julak Lee

Although there exists a growing amount of empirical literature documenting the correlates of cyberstalking victimization, research has yet to elaborate on the potential mechanisms that can explain the risk for cyberstalking victimization. We proposed an integrated theory, which combined low self-control, control deficit, peers’ online deviant behavior, and online deviant lifestyles based on previous research. We tested this integrated theory specifically for cyberstalking victimization using original data from a sample of 408 Iranian college women. Relying on structural equation modeling, we found that low self-control and peers’ online deviant behaviors were significantly associated with cyberstalking victimization not only directly but also indirectly via online deviant lifestyles. Overall, our findings yielded strong support for the integrated model to explain cyberstalking victimization.


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