This paper aims to study the role of deviation from a balanced time perspective in the broader context of COVID-19-related variables. We examined a structural model that depicted how the difficulty with adhering to COVID-19 restrictions and their psycho-socio-economic consequences were related to life satisfaction in a sample of 1423 participants. The results suggest that the difficulty with adhering to the anti-pandemic measures was associated with increased loneliness, decreased contentment with the authorities’ management of the pandemic situation and a worsened personal economic situation. These factors were related to higher levels of COVID-19-related stress and anxiety and lower levels of life satisfaction. Importantly, deviation from the balanced time perspective was one of the strongest predictors of overall life satisfaction within the model.

The topic of migration is often used by populist and non-populist politicians in order to arouse emotions, polarise social attitudes and thus mobilise voters. The present study aims to identify themes (a cognitive aspect of attitudes) and discrete emotions (an emotional aspect of attitudes) in online social discourse as a reaction to the media posts of the main Slovak political parties on the topic of migration in the pre-election period (January-February 2020). Methodological triangulation of discourse analysis and Text mining was used to analyse the data. Analysis of the discourse revealed that articles with pro-migrant rhetoric provoked more discussion about the security and identity threat, while articles by populists provoked more discussion about the morality of elites and the economic threat of migration. The evoked sentiment throughout the discourse leaned more towards negative emotions (fear, anger) but pro-migrant articles and articles by non-populist politicians evoked also positive emotions (joy). Results indicate that rather than fear of migration, the anticipation of a change in the morale of the elites was the key element of the pre-election period in Slovakia. Limitations and implications of the study are further discussed. The value of this paper lies in focusing on both emotional and cognitive aspects of attitudes towards migration.

This paper aims to study the role of deviation from a balanced time perspective in the broader context of COVID-19-related variables. We examined a structural model that depicted how the difficulty with adhering to COVID-19 restrictions and their psycho-socio-economic consequences were related to life satisfaction in a sample of 1,423 participants. The results suggest that the difficulty with adhering to the anti-pandemic measures was associated with increased loneliness, decreased contentment with the authorities’ management of the pandemic situation and a worsened personal economic situation. These factors were related to higher levels of COVID-19-related stress and anxiety and lower levels of life satisfaction. Importantly, deviation from the balanced time perspective was one of the strongest predictors of overall life satisfaction within the model.