Sensitivity to bodily signals is the tendency to be aware of bodily states and to identify subtle bodily reactions to internal and environmental conditions. Monitoring these signals is a top-down process, describing individuals' tendency to actively scan their bodies in order to detect cues for their physical condition. Two studies examined the relations between these constructs and their adaptivity among young adults. In Study 1, 180 young adults completed questionnaires assessing sensitivity, monitoring, and hypochondriac tendency. In Study 2, 205 students reported their levels of sensitivity, monitoring, pain catastrophizing, and trait anxiety. Although monitoring and sensitivity were correlated, when controlling for their shared variance, only monitoring was associated with high hypochondriac tendency and anxiety. In addition, the adaptivity of sensitivity to bodily signals was dependent on both level of monitoring of bodily signals and pain catastrophizing. That is, pain catastrophizing moderated the effect of sensitivity and monitoring on anxiety. These findings suggest that the adaptivity of sensitivity is determined by the mode of attention characterizing the individual engaged in this process.

Background: A growing number of studies report that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in diverse aversive psychological reactions and created a global mental health crisis. However, the specific mechanisms underlying the negative emotional reactions as well as the differences between countries are only beginning to be explored. The present study examined the association of COVID-19-related fear and negative affect in Israel and Switzerland. The mediating roles of three control beliefs were explored, namely, fatalism, locus of control, and perceived institutional betrayal. Method: General population samples of 595 Swiss and 639 Israeli participants were recruited and completed an online self-report survey. Moderated Mediation using multigroup path analysis models for the two samples were conducted and compared using AMOS. Results: The multigroup path model had excellent fit for both samples. The different paths were moderated by country affiliation. Higher levels of COVID-19-related fear were associated with negative affect to an equal extent in both samples. COVID-19-related fear was associated with higher reports of institutional betrayal and a lower locus of control in both samples. Higher COVID-19-related fear was associated with lower fatalism in the Swiss sample only. In both samples, institutional betrayal mediated the association between COVID-19-related fear and negative affect, however, locus of control was a mediator in the Israeli sample only. Conclusion: The current results suggest that the reaction of the government was of crucial importance with regard to the emotional state of the two populations. Interestingly, while in the context of adversity fatalism is generally considered a risk factor for mental health, during the time of the pandemic it seems to have had protective qualities among the Swiss population. Interventions that strengthen the personal locus of control have the potential to mitigate the negative affect in Israel but not in Switzerland. Despite the fact that COVID-19 is a global phenomenon, prevention and intervention strategies should be adjusted to local contexts.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic exposes individuals not only to health-related risks, but also to psychosocial fear and acute stress. Previous studies reveal that individuals who experienced child abuse (CA), especially those who suffer from complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), are at a higher risk of reacting with fear and stress when faced with stressful life-events. Objective To test whether exposure to CA is implicated in a higher risk of COVID-19-related fear and acute stress, and whether CPTSD intervenes in such processes. Participants and settings A convenience sample of 837 adults participated in the study during the first peak of COVID-19 in Israel. Methods Participants completed self-report questionnaires, assessing child physical, sexual and emotional abuse, CPTSD (ITQ), COVID-19-related acute stress disorder (COVID-19 ASD; ASDS) and fear of COVID-19. Results Bivariate analyses showed that participants who experienced CA were higher than participants who did not experience CA in COVID-19 ASD ( p = .032), but not in fear of COVID-19 ( p = .65). Mediation analyses demonstrated two significant paths: in the first, CA was associated with elevated fear of COVID-19 (effect = .061, .059; p < 0.05) and COVID-19 ASD (effect = .14, .084; p < 0.05) through the mediation of CPTSD; in the second path, when controlling for the mediation of CPTSD, CA was associated with reduced fear of COVID-19 (effect = −.15; p = 0.001), and COVID-19 ASD (effect = −.12; p = 0.024). Conclusions The findings reveal a complex pattern, indicating that CPTSD may be a risk factor for elevated levels of COVID-19 distress among individuals who experienced CA. However, some CA survivors may express reduced COVID-19 distress.

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Although body awareness and pain perception are considered to be parts of the interoceptive system, the relationship between them is unclear. This study examines the association between body awareness and pain habituation, hypothesizing that this association is moderated by pain catastrophizing and mindfulness. Sixty subjects received a mildly aversive electrical stimulus for 60 s, during which they were requested to rate the amount of perceived pain. Complete habituation was indicated by abolition of pain sensation; partial habituation was indicated by a decrease in pain sensation. Individuals who demonstrated complete habituation had lower levels of pain catastrophizing and lower levels of mindfulness. As hypothesized, the association between body awareness and pain habituation was moderated by pain catastrophizing: Among low pain catastrophizers, the higher the body awareness, the stronger the tendency to exhibit complete habituation. Among high pain catastrophizers, the higher the body awareness, the greater the likelihood to present partial habituation.

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