Coping with COVID-19: social representations underlying blaming processes and fear

Mondragón, Nahia Idoiaga; Sancho, Naiara Berasategi; Ozamiz-Etxebarria, Naiara; Sáez, Israel Alonso

doi:10.1080/08870446.2021.1896717

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…This can lead to economic harm (Rubin et al., 2020 ; Sybilla & Cavataro, 2020 ) and may be associated with other trends such as an increase in hostility, including discrimination and racially aggravated assault (Mayor of London, 2020 ; Metropolitan Police, 2020 ; Yeh, 2020 ). Studies in other countries have also shown evidence for blaming of the Chinese community at the start of the COVID‐19 outbreak (Idoiaga Mondragon, Berasategi Sancho, Ozamiz‐Etxebarria, & Alonso, 2021 ). Over 18 months later, these stigmatizing attitudes are still evident in the UK population, with 40% opposing all tourists from China (regardless of vaccination status), compared to 20% and 28% opposition for tourists from Denmark and the USA, respectively (data collected 8 to 9 July 2021) (YouGov, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holding a stigmatizing attitude at the start of the COVID‐19 outbreak: A cross‐sectional survey

Smith

Potts

Amlôt

et al. 2021

British J Health Psychol

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Objectives To identify the prevalence of a stigmatizing attitude towards people of Chinese origin at the start of the COVID‐19 outbreak in the UK population and investigate factors associated with holding the stigmatizing attitude. Design Online cross‐sectional survey conducted 10–13 February 2020 ( n = 2006, people aged 16 years or over and living in the UK). Methods We asked participants to what extent they agreed it was best to avoid areas heavily populated by Chinese people because of the COVID‐19 outbreak. Survey materials also asked about: worry, perceived risk, knowledge, information receipt, perception of government response to COVID‐19, and personal characteristics. We ran binary logistic regressions to investigate associations between holding a stigmatizing attitude, personal characteristics, and psychological and contextual factors. Results 26.1% people (95% CI 24.2–28.0%, n = 524/2006) agreed it was best to avoid areas heavily populated by Chinese people. Holding a stigmatizing attitude was associated with greater worry about COVID‐19, greater perceived risk of COVID‐19, and poorer knowledge about COVID‐19. Conclusions At the start of the COVID‐19 pandemic, a large percentage of the UK public endorsed avoiding areas in the UK heavily populated by people of Chinese origin. This attitude was associated with greater worry about, and perceived risk of, the COVID‐19 outbreak as well as poorer knowledge about COVID‐19. At the start of future novel infectious disease outbreaks, proactive communications from official sources should provide context and facts to reduce uncertainty and challenge stigmatizing attitudes, to minimize harms to affected communities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holding a stigmatizing attitude at the start of the COVID‐19 outbreak: A cross‐sectional survey

Smith

Potts

Amlôt

et al. 2021

British J Health Psychol

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“…As the authors suggested, "this method is based on the premise that words are not independent of each other, but reflect underlying themes", and "all discourse is expressed from a set of words that constitute units of meaning independently of their syntactic construction" ( [46], p. 5). In addition, other research used this approach when exploring the COVID-19 social representations in children and adolescents [47][48][49].…”

Section: Research Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Adolescents: Cognitive and Emotional Representations

2022

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The present research investigated children and adolescents’ explicit and spontaneous representation of the COVID-19 pandemic and their related emotions, cognitions, and coping strategies. We explored the self-reported protective factors and coping mechanisms, in addition to similar attributional emotional experiences, i.e., the ways participants evaluated others’ pandemic experiences. Our sample consisted of 155 children and adolescents aged 10 to 13 (M = 10.70, SD = 0.85, 56.1% females). We designed a 12-item survey and analyzed our data using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Our findings suggested that most children and adolescents associated masks with the thought of the novel coronavirus, and the most frequently associated emotion was sadness (45.2%), followed by fear (17.4%). Generally, participants reported a medium level of perceived adverse effects of the pandemic, mainly because their regular physical school classes moved to the online setting. We also found a significant association between children’s self-reported levels of harmful effects of the pandemic and perceived adverse effects on their families. Most participants expressed their dissatisfaction concerning online school classes, primarily due to poor online interaction. In our sample, the children and adolescents reported positive thoughts and family relationships as their primary coping mechanisms during the pandemic, suggesting similar perceived coping mechanisms in the others around them. Finally, more than half of the participants considered that the COVID-19 pandemic had no positive effects, while 40% considered the increased time spent with their families the primary positive consequences following the COVID-19 health crisis. Results are discussed regarding their implications concerning healthcare, social, and educational policies.

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“…While trust in science remains relatively high and stable, a decline of trust in authorities and the government can already be observed (Betsch, 2021). Although our model focused on distrusting beliefs in science and scientist, an increase in distrust concerning authorities is likely to similarly lead to a reduction of compliance with protective measures on the individual level (Michie et al, 2020;Idoiaga Mondragon et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of behaviour efficacy, not perceptions of threat, are drivers of COVID-19 protective behaviour in Germany

Kojan¹,

Burbach²,

Ziefle³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, non-pharmaceutical protective measures taken by individuals remain pivotal. Based on existing empirical findings as well as prominent behavioural theories, a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) of predictors for pandemic protective behaviour was estimated using a representative German sample (n = 437). The study was preregistered at OSF. The model explains 69% of the variance for behavioural intention, which is strongly correlated with behaviour (rho= .84). The most influential predictor for protective behaviour is its perceived efficacy, followed by normative beliefs and perceptions about costs for protective behaviour. Distrusting beliefs in science and scientists negatively predicted response perceptions and were also strongly and negatively correlated with behaviour. Knowledge about COVID-19 was weakly linked with perceived response efficacy, as well as with behaviour. These findings suggest that communication strategies surrounding COVID-19 should emphasise the efficacy of responses and foster a sense of responsibility.

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Coping with COVID-19: social representations underlying blaming processes and fear

Cited by 15 publications

References 46 publications

Holding a stigmatizing attitude at the start of the COVID‐19 outbreak: A cross‐sectional survey

Holding a stigmatizing attitude at the start of the COVID‐19 outbreak: A cross‐sectional survey

Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Adolescents: Cognitive and Emotional Representations

Perceptions of behaviour efficacy, not perceptions of threat, are drivers of COVID-19 protective behaviour in Germany

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