Effects of mask-wearing on social anxiety: an exploratory review

Saint, Sidney Ann; Moscovitch, David A.

doi:10.1080/10615806.2021.1929936

Cited by 43 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…A study in Italy by Caniato et al ( 35 ) investigated speech intelligibility in classrooms when students and teachers wore face masks, and found that masks overall negatively influence voice propagation especially when it comes to the voice range of male students and regardless of varying indoor acoustic characteristics. Further negative influences of wearing face masks and the correlation with social anxiety and mental health were identified by Saint and Moscovitch ( 36 ) in their exploratory review. A Taiwanese study by Chin et al ( 37 ) shed light on the importance of fear as a driving factor for the public during the COVID-19 pandemic to adhere to protection measures.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Social Meanings of Artifacts: Face Masks in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Schönweitz

Eichinger

Kuiper

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, research has explored various aspects of face mask use. While most of the research explores their effectiveness to prevent the spread of the virus, a growing body of literature has found that using face masks also has social meaning. But what social meaning does it have, and how does this meaning express itself in people's practice? Based on 413 qualitative interviews with residents in five European countries (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland), we found that the meanings of face masks have changed drastically during the first months of the pandemic. While in spring 2020 people wearing them had to fear stigmatization, in autumn of 2020 not wearing masks was more likely to be stigmatized. Throughout the first year of the pandemic, we found that mask wearing had multiple and partly seemingly contradictory meanings for people. They were perceived as obstacles for non-verbal communication, but also a way to affirm friendships and maintain social contacts. They also signaled specific moral or political stances on the side of face mask wearers and non-wearers alike, expressed their belonging to certain communities, or articulated concern. In sum, our findings show how face masks serve as scripts for people to navigate their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conclude that public and political discussions concerning face masks should include not only evidence on the epidemiological and infectiological effects of face masks, but also on their social meanings and their social effects.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Social Meanings of Artifacts: Face Masks in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Schönweitz

Eichinger

Kuiper

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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“…Findings also indicated that lower emotional stability might have the positive effect of encouraging mask uptake among relatively more neurotic individuals, who use masks to protect themselves from threats. However, it is unclear the extent to which mask wearing reduces anxieties (Saint & Moscovitch, 2021 ). Each of these findings speaks to the difficulty of achieving perfect uptake of COVID-19 prevention behaviors when individuals differ in their capacities and motivations to comply (De Carvalho, Pianowski, & Gonçalves, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collectivism, individualism and COVID-19 prevention: a cross sectional study of personality, culture and behavior among Canadians

Card

2022

Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine

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Background Collectivism has been identified as a protective factor against COVID-19 – perhaps due to increased conformity with social norms regarding prevention behaviors. Other studies have also found that individualism can inspire uptake of preventative behaviors as a means of personal protection. It is possible that these cultural orientations may promote different patterns of prevention (e.g. mask wearing vs. social distancing). Furthermore, existing studies examining the role of individualism and collectivism during the COVID-19 pandemic have frequently failed to account for other psychological processes, including differences in personality, which could help provide a better understanding of the psychological process underlying prevention behavior. Methods Participants were recruited using social media advertisements. The Cultural Orientations Scale measured individualism–collectivism and hierarchism-egalitarianism. The Ten Item Personality Inventory measured the five factor model of personality. Multivariable models, dominance analyses and structural equation mediation tests were used to identify the most important predictors of COVID-19 prevention behavior (i.e. mask-wearing, hand-washing, reducing social interactions, physical distancing, staying at home and social bubbling), controlling for demographic and situational factors. Results Among 774 participants, most (i.e. 60–80%) reported uptake of COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Higher vertical (hierarchical) collectivism was associated with staying at home and higher horizontal (egalitarian) individualism was associated with mask-wearing and reducing social interactions. Neither Vertical Collectivism nor Horizontal Collectivism were significantly associated with any of the prevention behaviors when controlling for personality traits and confounding variables. Agreeableness was identified as a key mediator of the correlation between these cultural orientations on general uptake of COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Conclusions Cultural orientations (e.g. collectivism-individualism, hierarchism-egalitarianism) and personality traits (e.g. Agreeableness) are salient correlates of COVID-19 prevention behaviors and therefore should be accounted for in the development, design and delivery of health promotion messages aiming to increase uptake of these behaviors.

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“…Since individuals with SA are likely to interpret ambiguous cues in negative ways (for a review, see Chen et al ., 2020 ), the ambiguity and uncertainty of social interactions increases, so is the likelihood of negative interpretation. For people with higher levels of SA, masked social encounters may amplify negative interpretation biases by activating their pre-existing vulnerabilities associated with selective memory recall during post event rumination, vigilant-avoidant facial processing, and diminished theory of mind abilities ( Saint & Moscovitch, 2021 ).…”

Section: Impact Of Mask Wearing On Verbal and Nonverbal Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%