Maintaining social support while social distancing: The longitudinal benefit of basic psychological needs for symptoms of anxiety during the COVID‐19 outbreak

Abstract

Although social distancing measures could be potentially perceived as thwarting conditions for basic psychological needs and thus causing psychological distress, off(on)line social support could compensate for this frustration by providing psychological proximity. Using self‐determination theory, in this study, we aimed (a) to evaluate the change of perception in need satisfaction over time (before and during home‐confinement and after a month of lockdown) and (b) to test the short‐term longitudinal association between off(on)line social support, basic needs, and anxiety during social distancing measures in response to the COVID‐19 outbreak. During the lockdown period decreed by Italy in March 2019 to confront the COVID‐19 emergency, 1344 participants completed an online questionnaire and 131 participants completed a follow‐up after 1 month. Results showed a decrease in need satisfaction during home confinement and a further reduction after a month of lockdown. Cross‐sectional path analysis showed that both online and offline social support were associated with higher need satisfaction, which, in turn, was related to a lower level of anxiety. Longitudinal paths also confirmed the association between need satisfaction and anxiety. Collectively, these results suggest that maintaining psychological proximity despite social distancing measures may provide important avenues for reducing negative outcomes during forced home confinement.

Social and Individual Factors Predicting Students’ Resilience: A Multigroup Structural Equation Model

“…Following Masten [1], resilience outcomes can be assessed in two ways: with a specific resilience scale or by exploring outcomes (in our case, SDT levels) in the context of risks. The worldwide COVID-19 crisis, internationally identified as threatening students' resilience, e.g., [77][78][79], could be perceived as a context of risk, a need-thwarting situation, threatening the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness [80,81]. Additionally, as the term "mental health" is very broad, the aspect of mental health on which we are focusing our attention is relevant [33].…”

The impact of financial scarcity on green consumption: Sequential mediating effects of anxiety and self‐efficacy

“…This reduction in discrepancy will reduce anxiety. The psychological literature confirmed that increased social support will lower individuals' anxiety levels (Costa et al, 2022;Li & Peng, 2021;Peñate et al, 2020). Thus, the process of financial scarcity → anxiety → perceived self-efficacy → green consumption may not be significant in high social support conditions.…”

COVID‐19 lockdown anxiety harms newcomers' job satisfaction: A cross‐lagged panel analysis during snap lockdowns in China

“…China's lockdowns required residents to stay in place, work from home, do frequent PCR tests, and avoid social gatherings (Nam & English, 2022; Onyeaka et al., 2021). 1 In this study, we posit that the COVID‐19 lockdown era harmed newcomers' socialization process because of restrictions on in‐person interactions and limited contact with new colleagues and supervisors (Costa et al., 2022; Restubog et al., 2020). The lockdowns could elicit feelings of anxiety for newcomers because it thwarts their basic psychological needs such as the need for social relatedness (Costa et al., 2022).…”

“…1 In this study, we posit that the COVID‐19 lockdown era harmed newcomers' socialization process because of restrictions on in‐person interactions and limited contact with new colleagues and supervisors (Costa et al., 2022; Restubog et al., 2020). The lockdowns could elicit feelings of anxiety for newcomers because it thwarts their basic psychological needs such as the need for social relatedness (Costa et al., 2022). The uncertainty it put on the economy might increase newcomers' feelings of uncertainty about their job position (Mahmud et al., 2021; Restubog et al., 2020).…”