Cross-country differences in anxiety and behavioral response to the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic is affecting health, social, mental, and economic wellbeing worldwide, and taking precautions and cooperation is crucial at the individual level. Using data from various sources, this study examines crosscountry differences in anxiety levels and behavioral responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, I investigate how economic preferences and development at the country-level are associated with anxiety and behavioral response and whether these factors explain contextual differences. Results show that anxiety was less common among more patient and developed societies. Yet, altruistic societies suffered more from anxiety. Higher levels of positive reciprocity and trust were also associated with stronger healthprotective behavioral responses. These findings are important in eliciting the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic for different societies during the ongoing pandemic.

The impact of the coronavirus crisis on European societies. What have we learnt and where do we go from here? – Introduction to the COVID volume

“…This is in agreement with the finding that individual anxiety and behavioral responses were stronger in societies characterized by greater altruism, patience (in other words, time preferences for long-term orientation), and development measured via three components of the Human Development Index such as the standard of living, education, and health (Buyukkececi 2020). Stronger individual health-protective behavioral responses were associated with positive reciprocity and trust at the country level, which seems to be related to social norms (Buyukkececi 2020). Using an organizational perspective, Teekens et al (2020) showed how social resilience can also be understood as resulting from specific workgroup characteristics and individual motivations that buffer against external shocks.…”

“…Further studies indicate the importance of the context in which individuals operate. Risk perceptions appeared to be lower among countries with stronger welfare states, but only if countries did not introduce preventive measures (Buyukkececi 2020). This is in agreement with the finding that individual anxiety and behavioral responses were stronger in societies characterized by greater altruism, patience (in other words, time preferences for long-term orientation), and development measured via three components of the Human Development Index such as the standard of living, education, and health (Buyukkececi 2020).…”

“…Risk perceptions appeared to be lower among countries with stronger welfare states, but only if countries did not introduce preventive measures (Buyukkececi 2020). This is in agreement with the finding that individual anxiety and behavioral responses were stronger in societies characterized by greater altruism, patience (in other words, time preferences for long-term orientation), and development measured via three components of the Human Development Index such as the standard of living, education, and health (Buyukkececi 2020). Stronger individual health-protective behavioral responses were associated with positive reciprocity and trust at the country level, which seems to be related to social norms (Buyukkececi 2020).…”

“…In particular, the studies showed increased anxiety and risk perception among women versus men, and married or cohabiting individuals versus single or divorced individuals (Buyukkececi 2020). While depression and age were found to be positively related to anxiety, depressed and older participants were also more likely to counter the pandemic with health-protective behaviors (Buyukkececi 2020).…”

“…The approaches were varied and spanned from looking at individual coping mechanisms to wider, group phenomena. Some studies focused on individual responses to the pandemic in terms of risk perception (Breznau 2020;Soiné et al 2020), anxiety and behavioral adjustment (Buyukkececi 2020), social resilience (Fernández-Prados et al 2020), stress, reduced subjective well-being, and life satisfaction (Ohlbrecht and Jellen 2020). Other papers took a broader perspective and made comparisons across countries (Breznau 2020; Buyukkececi 2020), across social groups (Buyukkececi 2020;Fernández-Prados et al 2020;Soiné et al 2020) and social characteristics (Seidenschnur 2020).…”