Pandemic Boredom: Little Evidence That Lockdown-Related Boredom Affects Risky Public Health Behaviors Across 116 Countries

Some public officials have expressed concern that policies mandating collective public health behaviors (e.g., national/regional "lockdown ") may result in behavioral fatigue that ultimately renders such policies ineffective. Boredom, specifically, has been singled out as one potential risk factor for noncompliance. We examined whether there was empirical evidence to support this concern during the COVID-19 pandemic in a large cross-national sample of 63,336 community respondents from 116 countries. Although boredom was higher in countries with more COVID-19 cases and in countries that instituted more stringent lockdowns, such boredom did not predict longitudinal within-person decreases in social distancing behavior (or vice versa; n = 8,031) in early spring and summer of 2020. Overall, we found little evidence that changes in boredom predict individual public health behaviors (handwashing, staying home, self-quarantining, and avoiding crowds) over time, or that such behaviors had any reliable longitudinal effects on boredom itself. In summary, contrary to concerns, we found little evidence that boredom posed a public health risk during lockdown and quarantine

Trust in government regarding COVID-19 and its associations with preventive health behaviour and prosocial behaviour during the pandemic: A cross-sectional and longitudinal study

Background The effective implementation of government policies and measures for controlling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic requires compliance from the public. This study aimed to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of trust in government regarding COVID-19 control with the adoption of recommended health behaviours and prosocial behaviours, and potential determinants of trust in government during the pandemic. Methods This study analysed data from the PsyCorona Survey, an international project on COVID-19 that included 23 733 participants from 23 countries (representative in age and gender distributions by country) at baseline survey and 7785 participants who also completed follow-up surveys. Specification curve analysis was used to examine concurrent associations between trust in government and self-reported behaviours. We further used structural equation model to explore potential determinants of trust in government. Multilevel linear regressions were used to examine associations between baseline trust and longitudinal behavioural changes. Results Higher trust in government regarding COVID-19 control was significantly associated with higher adoption of health behaviours (handwashing, avoiding crowded space, self-quarantine) and prosocial behaviours in specification curve analyses (median standardised beta = 0.173 and 0.229, p < 0.001). Government perceived as well organised, disseminating clear messages and knowledge on COVID-19, and perceived fairness were positively associated with trust in government (standardised beta = 0.358, 0.230, 0.056, and 0.249, p < 0.01). Higher trust at baseline survey was significantly associated with lower rate of decline in health behaviours over time (p for interaction = 0.001). Conclusions These results highlighted the importance of trust in government in the control of COVID-19

Conceptual replication and extension of health behavior theories' predictions in the context of COVID-19: Evidence across countries and over time

Virus mitigation behavior has been and still is a powerful means to fight the COVID-19 pandemic irrespective of the availability of pharmaceutical means (e.g., vaccines). We drew on health behavior theories to predict health-protective (coping-specific) responses and hope (coping non-specific response) from health-related cognitions (vulnerability, severity, self-assessed knowledge, efficacy). In an extension of this model, we proposed orientation to internal (problem-focused coping) and external (country capability) coping resources as antecedents of health protection and hope; health-related cognitions were assumed as mediators of this link. We tested these predictions in a large multi-national multi-wave study with a cross-sectional panel at T1 (Baseline, March-April 2020; N = 57,631 in 113 countries) and a panel subsample at two later time points, T2 (November 2020; N = 3097) and T3 (April 2021; N = 2628). Multilevel models showed that health-related cognitions predicted health-protective responses and hope. Problem-focused coping was mainly linked to health-protective behaviors (T1-T3), whereas country capability was mainly linked to hope (T1-T3). These relationships were partially mediated by health-related cognitions. We conceptually replicated predictions of health behavior theories within a real health threat, further suggesting how different coping resources are associated with qualitatively distinct outcomes. Both patterns were consistent across countries and time

Lives versus Livelihoods? Perceived economic risk has a stronger association with support for COVID-19 preventive measures than perceived health risk

This paper examines whether compliance with COVID-19 mitigation measures is motivated by wanting to save lives or save the economy (or both), and which implications this carries to fight the pandemic. National representative samples were collected from 24 countries (N = 25,435). The main predictors were (1) perceived risk to contract coronavirus, (2) perceived risk to suffer economic losses due to coronavirus, and (3) their interaction effect. Individual and country-level variables were added as covariates in multilevel regression models. We examined compliance with various preventive health behaviors and support for strict containment policies. Results show that perceived economic risk consistently predicted mitigation behavior and policy support—and its effects were positive. Perceived health risk had mixed effects. Only two significant interactions between health and economic risk were identified—both positive

Using machine learning to identify important predictors of COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors during the early phase of the pandemic

Before vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became available, a set of infection-prevention behaviors constituted the primary means to mitigate the virus spread. Our study aimed to identify important predictors of this set of behaviors. Whereas social and health psychological theories suggest a limited set of predictors, machine-learning analyses can identify correlates from a larger pool of candidate predictors. We used random forests to rank 115 candidate correlates of infection-prevention behavior in 56,072 participants across 28 countries, administered in March to May 2020. The machine-learning model predicted 52% of the variance in infection-prevention behavior in a separate test sample—exceeding the performance of psychological models of health behavior. Results indicated the two most important predictors related to individual-level injunctive norms. Illustrating how data-driven methods can complement theory, some of the most important predictors were not derived from theories of health behavior—and some theoretically derived predictors were relatively unimportant

Identifying important individual‐ and country‐level predictors of conspiracy theorizing: a machine learning analysis

Psychological research on the predictors of conspiracy theorizing—explaining important social and political events or circumstances as secret plots by malevolent groups—has flourished in recent years. However, research has typically examined only a small number of predictors in one, or a small number of, national contexts. Such approaches make it difficult to examine the relative importance of predictors, and risk overlooking some potentially relevant variables altogether. To overcome this limitation, the present study used machine learning to rank-order the importance of 115 individual- and country-level variables in predicting conspiracy theorizing. Data were collected from 56,072 respondents across 28 countries during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Echoing previous findings, important predictors at the individual level included societal discontent, paranoia, and personal struggle. Contrary to prior research, important country-level predictors included indicators of political stability and effective government COVID response, which suggests that conspiracy theorizing may thrive in relatively well-functioning democracies

Gender gap in parental leave intentions: Evidence from 37 countries

This is the final version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record. Despite global commitments and efforts, a gender-based division of paid and unpaid work persists. To identify how psychological factors, national policies, and the broader sociocultural context contribute to this inequality, we assessed parental-leave intentions in young adults (18–30years old) planning to have children (N = 13,942; 8,880 identified as women; 5,062 identified as men) across 37 countries that varied in parental-leave policies and societal gender equality. In all countries, women intended to take longer leave than men. National parental-leave policies and women’s political representation partially explained cross-national variations in the gender gap. Gender gaps in leave intentions were paradoxically larger in countries with more gender-egalitarian parental-leave policies (i.e., longer leave available to both fathers and mothers). Interestingly, this cross-national variation in the gender gap was driven by cross-national variations in women’s (rather than men’s) leave intentions. Financially generous leave and gender-egalitarian policies (linked to men’s higher uptake in prior research) were not associated with leave intentions in men. Rather, men’s leave intentions were related to their individual gender attitudes. Leave intentions were inversely related to career ambitions. The potential for existing policies to foster gender equality in paid and unpaid work is discussed.SSHRC Insight Development GrantSSHRC Insight GrantEconomic and Social Research CouncilState Research AgencyGuangdong 13th-five Philosophy and Social Science Planning ProjectNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaSwiss National Science FoundationSwiss National Science FoundationCenter for Social Conflict and Cohesion StudiesCenter for Intercultural and Indigenous ResearchSSHRC Postdoctoral FellowshipSlovak Research and Development AgencySwiss National Science FoundationCanada Research ChairsSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of CanadaOntario Ministry of Research and InnovationHSE University, RFFaculty of Arts, Masaryk Universit

COVID-19 stressors and health behaviors. A multilevel longitudinal study across 86 countries

Anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and home confinement has been associated with adverse health behaviors, such as unhealthy eating, smoking, and drinking. However, most studies have been limited by regional sampling, which precludes the examination of behavioral consequences associated with the pandemic at a global level. Further, few studies operationalized pandemic-related stressors to enable the investigation of the impact of different types of stressors on health outcomes. This study examined the association between perceived risk of COVID-19 infection and economic burden of COVID-19 with health-promoting and health-damaging behaviors using data from the PsyCorona Study: an international, longitudinal online study of psychological and behavioral correlates of COVID-19. Analyses utilized data from 7,402 participants from 86 countries across three waves of assessment between May 16 and June 13, 2020. Participants completed self-report measures of COVID-19 infection risk, COVID-19-related economic burden, physical exercise, diet quality, cigarette smoking, sleep quality, and binge drinking. Multilevel structural equation modeling analyses showed that across three time points, perceived economic burden was associated with reduced diet quality and sleep quality, as well as increased smoking. Diet quality and sleep quality were lowest among respondents who perceived high COVID-19 infection risk combined with high economic burden. Neither binge drinking nor exercise were associated with perceived COVID-19 infection risk, economic burden, or their interaction. Findings point to the value of developing interventions to address COVID-related stressors, which have an impact on health behaviors that, in turn, may 111 influence vulnerability to COVID-19 and other health outcomes

ЕКСПЕРИМЕНТАЛЬНЕ ОБҐРУНТУВАННЯ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ДЕЗІНФІКУЮЧОГО ЗАСОБУ «БІОЛАЙД» ДЛЯ ЗНЕШКОДЖЕННЯ БАКТЕРІАЛЬНИХ ІНФЕКЦІЙ В УМОВАХ ПРОМИСЛОВОГО ПТАХІВНИЦТВА

The materials of the article are devoted to the study of the bactericidal action of the newly developed «Biolaid» disinfectant at the first stage to determine the possibility of its use in the poultry industry to replace expensive, often toxic and ineffective disinfectants that have now flooded the market in Ukraine. Modern poultry farms are integrated enterprises, the structure of which consists of one continuous link with an incubator, own parent and industrial herds, production shops for processing products and feed production. One of the most important factors in the successful operation of such enterprises is quality disinfection. The problem of developing new cheap, safe, effective disinfectants remains relevant. The problem is supplemented by questions on the study of the effects of disinfectants on the indicators of general resistance in poultry and their impact on the productivity of birds, as such information is quite limited. Bacterial suspensions of test cultures with a concentration of 0.5–1.0 according to the McFarland standard (microbial load from 1.35×108 to 3.0×108 CFU/cm3) were prepared for the study by washing the colonies of the daily culture of microorganisms with trypton-soy agar (TCA) with sterile saline. The working dilutions of the experimental disinfectant were made according to the recommendations in the leaflet-tab, in concentrations of 0.1; 0.2; 0.25 and 0.5 % at exposures of 10, 20 and 30 minutes. The results of studies of the newly developed «Biolaid» disinfectant showed its high efficiency, proven experimentally, because at the level of 0.25 % concentration of the working dilution of the drug at an exposure of 30 minutes. complete neutralization of test cultures of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15442 was achieved without bacteriostatic effect, which testified to the effectiveness of the drug in its action on gram-negative and gram-positive pathogenic bacteria.Матеріали статті присвячені вивченню бактерицидної дії нового розробленого дезінфікуючого засобу «Біолайд» на першому етапі для визначення можливості його застосування у птахівничій галузі на заміну дорогим, часто токсичним та низькоефективним дезінфектантам, що нині заполонили ринок препаратів в Україні. Сучасні птахофабрики є інтегрованими підприємствами, структура яких складається з однієї суцільної ланки з інкубатором, власних батьківських та промислових стад, виробничих цехів з переробки продуктів та виробництва кормів. Одним з найважливіших факторів успішної діяльності таких підприємств є якісна дезінфекція. Проблема розробки нових дешевих безпечних ефективних дезінфікуючих засобів залишається актуальною. Проблема доповнюється питаннями щодо вивчення впливу дезінфікуючих засобів на показники загальної стійкості у птиці та їх впливу на продуктивність птиці, оскільки така інформація є досить обмеженою. Бактеріальні суспензії досліджуваних культур з концентрацією 0,5–1,0 за стандартом МакФарланда (мікробне навантаження від 1,35 × 108 до 3,0 × 108 КУО/см3) готували для дослідження шляхом промивання колоній добової культури мікроорганізмів триптон-соєвим агаром (ТСА) зі стерильним фізіологічним розчином. Робочі розведення експериментального дезінфікуючого засобу були зроблені відповідно до рекомендацій, зазначених у листівці, в концентраціях 0,1; 0,2; 0,25 і 0,5 % при експозиції 10, 20 і 30 хвилин. Результати досліджень нового розробленого дезінфікуючого засобу «Біолайд» показали його високу ефективність, доведену експериментальним шляхом, оскільки на рівні 0,25 % концентрації робочого розведення препарату за експозиції 30 хв було досягнуто повного знешкодження тестових культур Staphylococcus aureus АТСС 6538 і Pseudomonas aeruginosa АТСС 15442 без прояву бактеріостатичного ефекту, що засвідчувало ефективність препарату щодо його дії на грамнегативні та грампозитивні патогенні бактерії