Stress‐Buffering Role of Social Support during COVID‐19

Szkody, Erica; Stearns, Melanie; Stanhope, Lydia; McKinney, Cliff

doi:10.1111/famp.12618

Cited by 254 publications

(241 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Conversely, presence of human sounds can reinforce feelings of social embeddedness, which is an essential resource in times of isolation from one’s usual social network (cf. [ 125 ]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

University Students’ Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine

Dzhambov

Stoyanov

Petrova

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Background: Online education became mandatory for many students during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and blurred the distinction between settings where processes of stress and restoration used to take place. The lockdown also likely changed perceptions of the indoor acoustic environment (i.e., soundscape) and raised its importance. In the present study, we seek to understand how indoor soundscape related to university students’ self-rated health in Bulgaria around the time that the country was under a state of emergency declaration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Between 17 May and 10 June 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey among 323 students (median age 21 years; 31% male) from two universities in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Self-rated health (SRH) was measured with a single-item. Participants were asked how frequently they heard different types of sounds while at home and how pleasant they considered each of those sounds to be. Restorative quality of the home (the “being away” dimension of the Perceived Restorativeness Scale) was measured with a single-item. A priori confounders and effect modifiers included sociodemographics, house-related characteristics, general sensitivity to environmental influences, and mental health. Our analysis strategy involved sequential exploratory factor analysis (EFA), multivariate linear and ordinal regressions, effect modification tests, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: EFA supported grouping perceived sounds into three distinct factors—mechanical, human, and nature sounds. Regression analyses revealed that greater exposure to mechanical sounds was consistently associated with worse SRH, whereas no significant associations were found for human and nature sounds. In SEM, exposure to mechanical sounds related to lower restorative quality of the home, and then to poorer SRH, whereas nature sounds correlated with higher restorative quality, and in turn with better SRH. Conclusions: These findings suggest a role of positive indoor soundscape and restorative quality for promoting self-rated health in times of social distancing.

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“…Conversely, presence of human sounds can reinforce feelings of social embeddedness, which is an essential resource in times of isolation from one’s usual social network (cf. [ 125 ]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

University Students’ Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine

Dzhambov

Stoyanov

Petrova

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Articles also suggest that quarantined children 169 , adolescents 170 , university students [171][172][173][174] and adults 175 , mothers of young children 176 , and other healthy adults suffered from symptoms of poor mental health, such as post-traumatic stress, anger, and confusion 177,178 . One study in Turkey found a difference in the self-reported quality of life (better) of children as opposed to the perception of their parents 179 .…”

Section: Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 lockdown and lifestyles: A narrative review

et al. 2021

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Background: The primary objective worldwide during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been controlling disease transmission. However, lockdown measures used to mitigate transmission have affected human behavior and altered lifestyles, with a likely impact on chronic non-communicable diseases. More than a year into the pandemic, substantial peer-reviewed literature has emerged on altered lifestyles following the varying lockdown measures imposed globally to control the virus spread. We explored the impact of lockdown measures on six lifestyle factors, namely diet, physical activity, sleep, stress, social connectedness, and the use of tobacco, alcohol, or other harmful substances. Methods: We comprehensively searched PubMed and the World Health Organization’s global literature database on COVID-19 and retrieved 649 relevant articles for the narrative review. A critical interpretative synthesis of the articles was performed. Results: Most of the articles included in the review identified the negative effect of lockdown measures on each of the lifestyle factors in many parts of the world. Encouraging lifestyle trends were also highlighted in a few articles. Such trends can positively influence the outcome of lifestyle-related chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to better understand the negative impact of strict lockdown measures on lifestyles. At the same time, it helps us identify and initiate positive behavioral changes, which, if consolidated, could improve chronic disease outcomes. It is up to governments, communities, and healthcare/academic entities to derive benefit from lessons learned from the pandemic, with the ultimate objective of better educating and promoting healthy lifestyles among communities.

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“…On a physiological level, decades of research suggest that permanent stress-particularly existential threat in a context of high uncertainty-brings along more automated stimulus-response mechanisms or fight-flight-freeze mechanisms. Furthermore, it is proven that humans as social beings (Baumeister, 2011) benefit in the sense of a stress buffer from feeling socially integrated, socially supported, and co-regulated (Cassel, 1976), for example, through touch and contact (Morrison, 2016), which was and is considerably limited by the physical distance in the pandemic situation (e.g., Szkody et al, 2020). Self-protection against burnout by down-regulating empathy is short term and misguided (Vaes and Muratore, 2013).…”

Section: How Crises Affect the Social Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of COVID-19 on Interpersonal Aspects in Elementary School

2021

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Social-emotional education and the relational competence of school staff and leaders are emphasized in research since they strongly impact childrens’ social, emotional, and cognitive development. In a longitudinal project—Empathie macht Schule (EmS)—we aim at evaluating the outcome and process of an empathy training for the whole school staff, including leaders. We compare three treatments to three control elementary schools via a mixed-methods approach employing qualitative and quantitative research methods targeting both, the school staff and the schoolchildren. Since the start of the project in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the global education process, that is, the range of training activities for school staff in an unprecedented manner. First the lockdown and then the hygienic measures impact the habits and certainties in schools on multiple levels, including artifacts (e.g., physical distancing measures and virtual platforms), processes (e.g., virtual learning and home-schooling), social structures (e.g., separation of a high-risk group), and values (e.g., difficulties in building relations and showing empathy due to physical distance). Leaders and staff are facing an uncertain situation, while their actions and decisions may—also unintentionally—shape the social reality that will be inhabited to a significant extent. In this context, a number of questions become salient. How does the disruption of the pandemic affect interpersonal relationships, interactions, and the social field—the sum of relationships within the system of a school—as a whole? And specifically, how do the actors reflect on changes in the social field, their relationships, and the schools’ and classrooms’ overall relationship quality due to the crisis? The assessment combines qualitative interviews with leaders and teachers (N = 10) along with a self-report survey (N = 80) addressing the effects of the pandemic on interpersonal aspects in schools. Surprisingly, a number of positive effects were mentioned regarding the learning environment in the smaller-sized classes, which were caused by hygienic measures, as well as increased cohesion among faculty. The potential influence of these effects by consciously shaping relationships and cultivating empathy is discussed in the article.

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Stress‐Buffering Role of Social Support during COVID‐19

Cited by 254 publications

References 43 publications

University Students’ Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine

University Students’ Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine

COVID-19 lockdown and lifestyles: A narrative review

The Impact of COVID-19 on Interpersonal Aspects in Elementary School

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