Background and Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to radical and unexpected changes in everyday life, and it is plausible that people’s psychophysical health has been affected. This study examined the relationship between COVID-19 related knowledge and mental health in a Croatian sample of participants.MethodsAn online survey was conducted from March 18 until March 23, 2020, and a total of 1244 participant responses were collected (85.5% were women and 58.4% completed secondary education). Measures included eight questions regarding biological features of the virus, symptoms, and prevention, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Optimism-Pessimism Scale. According to the answers given on the questions on COVID-19 related knowledge, participants were divided in two groups: (1) informed and (2) uninformed on each question. They were then compared in the expressed levels of anxiety, depression, pessimism, and optimism. Full vs. partial mediation models with optimism/pessimism as a mediator in the relationship between anxiety/depression and the accuracy of responses for questions about handwashing and ways of transmission were estimated.ResultsParticipants who responded correctly on the question about handwashing had higher levels of anxiety, depression, and pessimism than those participants whose answer was incorrect, while participants who answered correctly on the question about the percentage of patients who develop serious breathing problems had higher levels of depression than those who answered incorrectly. Lower levels of anxiety and pessimism were observed in the participants who answered correctly about ways of transmission. Higher levels of pessimism were found in participants who scored incorrectly on questions about the efficiency of antibiotics, most common symptoms, and the possibility of being infected by asymptomatic carriers. Higher levels of knowledge about handwashing were predicted by higher levels of anxiety and pessimism. Higher levels of knowledge about ways of transmission were predicted by lower levels of anxiety and lower levels of pessimism. The examined relationships between anxiety/depression and knowledge were mediated by pessimism.ConclusionThe findings of this study suggest that knowledge about COVID-19 may be useful to reduce anxiety and depression, but it must be directed to the promotion of health behaviors and to the recognition of fake news.

On a global level, from year to year there is an increase in the number of singles, that is, people who, either willingly or unwillingly, are not in any form of partner relationship, which increases the need for research into this specific phenomenon. This paper presents certain aspects of singlehood and the challenges faced by singles, which have been reviewed and researched in the previous literature: the reasons that lead to singlehood, ubiquitous stereotypes and discrimination, the psychological well-being of singles and their functioning in the context of the workplace and complying work with family and private life. Specific methodological challenges in the given field of research and guidelines for future research are also presented. Mainly, in this paper, singleness is analyzed taking into account the perspective of never-married adults without children, who are not in a committed romantic relationship. Despite the fact that, due to their status, they often have to face criticism from those who do not respect the plurality of attitudes and life choices, single people in terms of subjective well-being, generally did not prove to be inferior to married people. Nevertheless, the relationship between marital status and psychological well-being is still complicated and ambiguous. It has been shown that it is necessary to appeal for equality of rights and treatment in terms of working conditions, regardless of a person’s personal and family status, which would ultimately have a beneficial effect on organizations and society as a whole. The lack of a larger number of targeted studies of single people in Croatia is evident. In view of the above, it would be necessary to perform more detailed research that would thoroughly examine the role of the variables presented in this paper in the context of singlehood, but also other mechanisms and determinants of satisfaction and well-being of this group of people.