Community dimensions and emotions in the era of COVID-19

Stress and emotion in a locked campus: the moderating effects of resilience and loneliness

The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamic relationship between Chinese students' emotions and stress during a strict lockdown period in a university setting and the context of a global pandemic. Dynamic structural equation modeling was used to investigate the moderating role of resilience and loneliness in this relationship. The participants consisted of 112 students. Based on loneliness and resilience measures and the intensive tracking of emotional stress over a 21-day period, the results of data analysis indicated that the students' overall levels of positive emotions were low and relatively independent of negative emotions. Negative emotions were significantly autoregressive and their baseline was closely related to the individual's overall feelings of stress and loneliness levels, fluctuating with feelings of stress. The results confirm the hypothesis that resilience helps to stabilize emotions. Individuals with low resilience may be more emotionally sensitive in confined environments, while receiving social support may help to alleviate low moods.

Cumulative trauma and perceived community resilience: A serial mediation model

Communities affected by cumulative trauma can experience negative psychological reactions but also posttraumatic growth and community resilience, which promote adaptation and preparation for future traumatic events. This study aims to investigate the mechanisms that mediate the relationship between traumatic events and perceived community resilience. Participants were 118 Italian adults who experienced cumulative trauma and were recruited to complete an online survey. A serial multiple mediation model was estimated to assess whether the impact of the Morandi bridge collapse and posttraumatic growth mediated the relationship between the psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and perceived community resilience. The impact of the collapsed bridge and posttraumatic growth in serial partially mediated the relationship between the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and perceived community resilience. The impact of cumulative trauma can be considered through an ecological perspective that considers the consequences of these events in relation to community resilience.

Linguistic markers of processing the first months of the pandemic COVID-19: a psycholinguistic analysis of Italian university students' diaries

A longitudinal psycholinguistic study was conducted with 107 students from different Italian universities that produced daily photo-diary entries for two weeks, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the first Italian lockdown period, imposed in view of the rapid dissemination of COVID -19. The task was to take a daily photo accompanied by a short description (text). The texts accompanying the photos were analysed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software to analyze linguistic markers representing psychological processes related to the experience of the pandemic and the lockdown, identifying potential changes in psycholinguistic variables useful for understanding the psychological impact of such harsh and extended restricted living conditions on Italian students. LIWC categories related to negation, anger, cognitive mechanisms, tentative discourse, past, and future increased statistically significantly between the two time points, while word count, prepositions, communication, leisure, and home decreased statistically significantly. While male participants used more articles at both time points, females used more words related to anxiety, social processes, past, and present at T1 and more related to insight at T2. Participants who lived with their partner showed higher scores on negative emotions, affect, positive feelings, anger, optimism, and certainty. Participants from southern Italy tended to describe their experiences from a collective and social perspective rather than an individual perspective. By identifying, discussing, and comparing these phenomena with the broader literature, a spotlight is shed for the first time on the psycholinguistic analysis of students at the national level who faced the first COVID -19 lockdown in Italy.

A Comparison in Travel Characteristics of Bike-Sharing between College Students and Office Workers Based on Theory of Planned Behavior

As an important component of bike-sharing (BS) users, the travel behavior of college students and office workers is important to the promotion of BS within Chinese cities. To explore the influencing factors for the behavioral intentions of BS, this paper makes a different analysis between the two groups. Based on the theory of planned behavior, and using environmental awareness as an extended variable, a BS travel intention model was developed. A total of 676 valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed from college students and office workers in Zhengzhou. The results indicate that attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, and environmental awareness have a positive impact on the behavioral intentions of BS. However, the influence degree of each variable is different between the two groups. Perceived behavior control, including travel time, travel cost, and cycling difficulty, has the greatest impact on BS behavioral intention for college students. Meanwhile, subjective norms, including policy and media publicity, has the most significant impact on BS behavioral intention for office workers. The impact of environmental awareness on college students' use of BS is higher than that of office workers. We also found that undergraduates use BS more frequently than postgraduates. The findings provide the clear influence factors on behavioral intentions of BS between college students and office workers, that can help policy optimization in terms of bike-sharing systems, giving some suggestion for an approach devoted to deepen the individual-context interactions.

Islamic Civilizations and Plagues: The Role of Religion, Faith and Psychology During Pandemics

The current study seeks to analyze Muslim experiences of communicative diseases with a focus on the psychosocial impacts and public, communal, and personal responses of Muslim populations throughout history. By examining a selection of plague outbreaks between the 8-19th centuries across the lands broadly defined as the Islamic Mediterranean (Varlık, 2017), the guidelines and coping mechanisms that Muslims extracted from their traditional sources are highlighted. This historical perspective contributes to a better understanding of the psychological and social aspects of pandemics for the Muslim community, specifically for the role played by faith and spirituality as determinants of psychological well-being in Muslims' perceptions and responses. We suggest that such an understanding is especially useful for contemporary mental health practitioners working with Muslim patients through the global COVID-19 pandemic.

International students' collective resilience in crisis: Sense of community reduced anxiety via social contact and social support during lockdown

Objectives

The role of community in individuals' well-being has been extensively examined in the Western context. However, little is known about how the host community is related to sojourners' well-being in a crisis in an Asian context. The current study aims at exploring international students' sense of community in the Chinese context under the direct threat of a global health crisis.

Methods

Using a cross-sectional sample of 102 international students staying in Wuhan during the 76-day lockdown at the earliest stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the current study explored the relationship between international students' sense of community and anxiety, and the mediating role of social contact, social support from three key sources in the host community (host university, international students, and Chinese friends).

Results

Results showed that participants' stronger sense of community indirectly reduced anxiety via the role of sources of contact and support from the host community.

Conclusions

This study provided further evidence to support the nurturance of the sense of community in community resilience and provided implications on how the host community can help to enhance sojourners' psychological well-being in a global crisis.

Intergenerational Integration in Community Building to Improve the Mental Health of Residents—A Case Study of Public Space

This study defined intergenerational integration in communities at a theoretical level and verified whether a series of measures could facilitate negotiation and communication between community residents and other stakeholders to generate a positive and healthy community environment and gradually improve intergroup relations. Specifically, we applied community psychology and used Hongqiao New Village in Shanghai, China, as a research site to explore intergenerational conflict in public community spaces. The research was divided into two stages: an input stage and an output stage. In the input stage, participatory research and tea parties were used to deeply explore residents’ public space requirements. In the output stage, we tested the validity of the theory by using the Intergenerational Attitude Scale to investigate whether the intergenerational relationships were changed by the co-creation intervention. The results showed that the intervention caused a decrease in the incidence of conflict between residents using the square and caused some children to join the older groups in their activities. We thus propose a theoretical system model of intergenerational integration strategies that incorporates elements of integration, disagreement, and synergy in intergenerational interactions. Overall, this paper provides new ideas for building a community environment that supports mental health and improves intergenerational relationships and social well-being.

Environmental mastery and purpose of life during COVID-19-related lockdown: A study deepening the role of personal and community resilience

COVID-19 outbreak and the measures needed to contain its first wave of contagion produced broad changes in citizens' daily lives, routines, and social opportunities, putting their environmental mastery and purpose of life at risk. However, these measures produced different impacts across citizens and communities. Building on this, the present study addresses citizens' understanding of the rationale for COVID-19-related protective measures and their perception of their own and their community's resilience as protective dimensions to unravel the selective effect of nationwide lockdown orders. An online questionnaire was administered to Italian citizens during Italian nationwide lockdown. Two moderation models were performed using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) path analysis. The results show that the understanding of the rationale for lockdown only associated with citizens' purpose of life and that it represented a risk factor rather than a protective one. Furthermore, the interaction effects were significant only when community resilience was involved. That is, personal resilience did not show the expected moderation effect, while community resilience did. However, the latter varied between being either full or partial depending on the dependent variable. In light of the above, the theoretical and practical implications of these results will be discussed.

Associations between Public Fear of COVID-19 and Number of COVID-19 Vaccinations: A County-Level Longitudinal Analysis

Background and Purpose: A large number of COVID-19 infections and deaths and the ensuing socioeconomic problems created widespread public fear around COVID-19. Fear around COVID-19 greatly influences people’s attitudes towards receiving the COVID-19 vaccines. The purpose of this study is examining (a) the impact of the public fear of COVID-19 (PFC) on the number of COVID-19 vaccinations at the county level; (b) the interaction effect between the PFC and per capita income, unemployment rates, and COVID-19 vaccines incentive policies, on the number of COVID-19 vaccinations at the county level. Method: This is a longitudinal analysis across states in the U.S. by using county-level data of 2856 counties from 1 February to 1 July. Random-effects models were adopted to analyze the associations between the PFC and the number of COVID-19 vaccinations. Result: the PFC was positively associated with the number of COVID-19 vaccinations at county-level, as PFC increases from 0 to 300, the predicted vaccination number increases from 10,000 to 230,000. However, the associations were divergent when the PFC interacts with county-level per capita income, unemployment rates, and incentive policies. Conclusion: public fear is an important indicator for the county-level vaccination numbers of COVID-19. However, it is critical to consider public fear and socioeconomic factors when making policies that aim to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates.

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumers' Impulse Buying: The Moderating Role of Moderate Thinking

Based on event systems theory, this study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers' impulse buying, as well as the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions from the perspective of individual consumers. Results of three experiments (N = 437) show that, first, the COVID-19 pandemic enhanced consumers' impulse buying behavior. Second, two key elements, loss of control and anxiety, mediated the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and impulse buying; and third, moderate thinking (also known as Zhong-Yong thinking) moderated the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and impulse buying. The findings indicate that in consumers with low moderate thinking, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a stronger effect on impulse buying and has mediated more between the loss of control and anxiety. Conversely, in consumers with high moderate thinking, COVID-19 has had a weaker effect on impulse buying and has mediated less between loss of control and anxiety. This study extends the application of event systems theory and enriches the literature on how the COVID-19 pandemic affects consumer behavior. Furthermore, it provides strategic recommendations for government and consumer responses to COVID-19 pandemic shocks.

Well-Being and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects through the lens of community psychology. Our study applied PRISMA methodology, and it was carried out using the PsycInfo, PubMed, Embase, and EBSCO databases utilizing the keywords “connectedness,” “resilience,” “shared action,” “social action,” “trust,” “individual well-being,” and “social well-being.” We selected 12 of 216 eligible publications based on the inclusion criteria. The results indicated that the role of trust in institutions and others is a protective factor for communities that experience crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, developing social actions promoted connections and social support and that, in the absence of in-person communication, online communication promoted connections and reduced psychological distress and isolation. Finally, the study revealed that some psychosocial factors stem from declines in people’s well-being due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. Furthermore, our findings highlighted the role of technology as a positive communication tool for promoting connectedness and social support, as well as the social function of trust in institutions. Our results suggested that community interactions at the local and virtual levels should be viewed as positive actions to support institutions in detecting the most effective social intervention measures to stimulate individual and community well-being during the pandemic. These findings may serve as a guide for health policymakers in their efforts to face the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic supporting beneficial strategies for social planning and effective public policies. Finally, both the strengths and limitations of the research will be discussed in depth.