Identity change, uncertainty and mistrust in relation to fear and risk of COVID-19

Breakwell, Glynis M.; Jaspal, Rusi

doi:10.1080/13669877.2020.1864011

Cited by 61 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Thus, we can conclude that trust in COVID-19 information sources and threat assessment are important factors predicting preventive behavior, but in terms of involvement in preventive behavior, threat assessment is more important. This means that trust in official sources of information promotes higher assessment of the virus hazards and seriousness of the situation which in turn predicts preventive behavior, as confirmed by the results of other studies (Al-Rasheed, 2020 ; Breakwell and Jaspal, 2020 ; Jørgensen et al, 2020 ; Khosravi, 2020 ; Wang et al, 2021 ). The results of our study also show that rural residents, higher education, and being employed indicated the highest trust in COVID-19 information sources, but in the overall model these factors explained a very small variance of trust of information sources (H10 rejected) and these results can be explained by society's overall low level of trust in the government, the health care system, and media.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model

et al. 2021

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Background: While COVID-19 has rapidly spread around the world, and vaccines are not widely available to the general population, the World Health Organization outlines preventive behavior as the most effective way to limit the rapid spread of the virus. Preventive behavior is associated with a number of factors that both encourage and discourage prevention.Aim: The aim of this research was to study COVID-19 threat appraisal, fear of COVID-19, trust in COVID-19 information sources, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and the relationship of socio-demographic variables (gender, age, level of education, place of residence, and employment status) to COVID-19 preventive behavior.Methods: The data originate from a national cross-sectional online survey (N = 2,608) undertaken in July 2020. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.Results: COVID-19 threat appraisal, trust in COVID-19 information sources, and fear of COVID-19 are all significant predictors of COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Together they explain 26.7% of the variance of this variable. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs significantly negatively predict COVID-19 threat appraisal (R2 = 0.206) and trust in COVID-19 information sources (R2 = 0.190). COVID-19 threat appraisal contributes significantly and directly to the explanation of the fear of COVID-19 (R2 = 0.134). Directly, as well as mediated by COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, threat appraisal predicts trust in COVID-19 information sources (R2 = 0.190). The relationship between COVID-19 threat appraisal and COVID-19 preventive behaviors is partially mediated by fear of COVID-19 (indirect effect 28.6%) and trust in information sources (15.8%). Socio-demographic variables add very little in prediction of COVID-19 preventive behavior.Conclusions: The study results demonstrate that COVID-19 threat appraisal is the most important factor associated with COVID-19 preventive behavior. Those Latvian residents with higher COVID-19 threat appraisal, experienced higher levels of fear of COVID-19, had more trust in COVID-19 information sources, and were more actively involved in following COVID-19 preventive behaviors. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs negatively predict COVID-19 threat appraisal and trust in COVID-19 information sources, but not the COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Socio-demographic factors do not play an important role here.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model

et al. 2021

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“…Our research contributes to the growing literature on the psychological effect of COVID-19. While the majority of such research has examined the emotional distress engendered (e.g., [45,46]), fewer have examined effects on individuals' sense of self [47][48][49] and social identities [7,8]. We explicitly investigate how COVID-19's disruptions to social systems and social roles can undermine self-authenticity.…”

Section: Contributions and Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The “Self” under COVID-19: Social role disruptions, self-authenticity and present-focused coping

2021

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Social role disruption is a state involving upheaval of social identities, routines and responsibilities. Such disruption is presently occurring at a global scale due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which poses a threat not only to health and security but also to the social roles that underlie people’s daily lives. Our collective response to combat the virus entails, for example, parents homeschooling children, friends socializing online, and employees working from home. While these collective efforts serve the greater good, people’s social roles now lack continuity from what was authentic to the roles before the pandemic began. This, we argue, takes a psychological toll. Individuals feel inauthentic, or alienated and out-of-touch from their “true” selves, to the extent their social roles undergo change. As evidence, we report survey (Studies 1 & 4) and experimental (Studies 2 & 3) evidence that COVID-19-related role changes indeed increase inauthenticity. This effect occurs independent of (a) how positively/negatively people feel about COVID-19 (Study 2) and (b) how positively/negatively people feel about the role change itself (Studies 3 & 4). Moreover, we identify two moderators of this effect. First, this effect occurs when (and ostensibly because) the social roles undergoing change are central to an individual’s sense of self (Study 2). Second, this effect depends on an individual’s temporal perspective. People can safeguard their self-authenticity in the face of changing social roles if they stay focused on the here-and-now (the present and immediate future), rather than focusing on the past (pre-COVID-19) or future (post-COVID-19) (Studies 3 & 4). This advantage for present-focused coping is observed in both the U.S.A. (Study 3) and Hong Kong (Study 4). We suggest that the reason people feel more authentically themselves when they maintain a present focus is because doing so makes the discontinuity of their social roles less salient.

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“…This difference has to be acknowledged when measuring the likelihood of someone engaging in preventive behavior. Additionally, as guidance and rules change and become more complex during a pandemic, failure to adopt the appropriate preventive behavior may have less to do with non-compliance than to do with confusion ( Breakwell & Jaspal, 2020 ; Geldsetzer, 2020 ). Conspiracy theories and misinformation ( Allington et al, 2020 ) and the proliferation of competing social representations of infection and transmission risks and methods of protection have fueled confusion ( Jaspal & Nerlich, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors Index: Development and Validation in Two Samples From the United Kingdom

2021

Self Cite

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Monitoring compliance with, and understanding the factors affecting, COVID-19 preventive behaviors requires a robust index of the level of subjective likelihood that the individual will engage in key COVID-19 preventive behaviors. In this article, the psychometric properties of the COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors Index (CPBI), including its development and validation in two samples in the United Kingdom, are described. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on data from 470 participants in the United Kingdom who provided demographic information and completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the COVID-19 Own Risk Appraisal Scale (CORAS) and the CPBI. Results showed that a unidimensional, 10-item model fits the data well, with satisfactory fit indices, internal consistency and high item loadings onto the factor. The CPBI correlated positively with both fear and perceived risk of COVID-19, suggesting good concurrent validity. The CPBI is a measure of the likelihood of engaging in preventive activity, rather than one of intention or actual action. It is adaptable enough to be used over time as a monitoring instrument by policy makers and a modeling tool by researchers.

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Identity change, uncertainty and mistrust in relation to fear and risk of COVID-19

Cited by 61 publications

References 50 publications

Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model

Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model

The “Self” under COVID-19: Social role disruptions, self-authenticity and present-focused coping

The COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors Index: Development and Validation in Two Samples From the United Kingdom

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