Psychological well-being in Europe after the outbreak of war in Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has had devastating effects on the Ukrainian population and the global economy, environment, and political order. However, little is known about the psychological states surrounding the outbreak of war, particularly the mental well-being of individuals outside Ukraine. Here, we present a longitudinal experience-sampling study of a convenience sample from 17 European countries (total participants = 1,341, total assessments = 44,894, countries with >100 participants = 5) that allows us to track well-being levels across countries during the weeks surrounding the outbreak of war. Our data show a significant decline in well-being on the day of the Russian invasion. Recovery over the following weeks was associated with an individual’s personality but was not statistically significantly associated with their age, gender, subjective social status, and political orientation. In general, well-being was lower on days when the war was more salient on social media. Our results demonstrate the need to consider the psychological implications of the Russo-Ukrainian war next to its humanitarian, economic, and ecological consequences

A global experience-sampling method study of well-being during times of crisis : The CoCo project

We present a global experience-sampling method (ESM) study aimed at describing, predicting, and understanding individual differences in well-being during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This international ESM study is a collaborative effort of over 60 interdisciplinary researchers from around the world in the “Coping with Corona” (CoCo) project. The study comprises trait-, state-, and daily-level data of 7490 participants from over 20 countries (total ESM measurements = 207,263; total daily measurements = 73,295) collected between October 2021 and August 2022. We provide a brief overview of the theoretical background and aims of the study, present the applied methods (including a description of the study design, data collection procedures, data cleaning, and final sample), and discuss exemplary research questions to which these data can be applied. We end by inviting collaborations on the CoCo dataset

A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

A Many-analysts Approach to the Relation Between Religiosity and Well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

Psychological well-being in Europe after the outbreak of war in Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has had devastating effects on the Ukrainian population and the global economy, environment, and political order. However, little is known about the psychological states surrounding the outbreak of war, particularly the mental well-being of individuals outside Ukraine. Here, we present a longitudinal experience-sampling study of a convenience sample from 17 European countries (total participants = 1,341, total assessments = 44,894, countries with >100 participants = 5) that allows us to track well-being levels across countries during the weeks surrounding the outbreak of war. Our data show a significant decline in well-being on the day of the Russian invasion. Recovery over the following weeks was associated with an individual’s personality but was not statistically significantly associated with their age, gender, subjective social status, and political orientation. In general, well-being was lower on days when the war was more salient on social media. Our results demonstrate the need to consider the psychological implications of the Russo-Ukrainian war next to its humanitarian, economic, and ecological consequences

A global experience-sampling method study of well-being during times of crisis : the CoCo project

[Corrections added on 5 July 2023 after first online publication: The authorship footnote has been modified on page 1 and the duplicate phrase “experience sampling” has been removed on page 2.]We present a global experience-sampling method (ESM) study aimed at describing, predicting, and understanding individual differences in well-being during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This international ESM study is a collaborative effort of over 60 interdisciplinary researchers from around the world in the “Coping with Corona” (CoCo) project. The study comprises trait-, state-, and daily-level data of 7490 participants from over 20 countries (total ESM measurements = 207,263; total daily measurements = 73,295) collected between October 2021 and August 2022. We provide a brief overview of the theoretical background and aims of the study, present the applied methods (including a description of the study design, data collection procedures, data cleaning, and final sample), and discuss exemplary research questions to which these data can be applied. We end by inviting collaborations on the CoCo dataset.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.https://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/spc3am2024PsychologySDG-03:Good heatlh and well-bein

Be Yourself and Behave Appropriately: Exploring Associations Between Incongruent Personality States and Positive Affect, Tiredness, and Cognitive Performance

Personality traits describe how people typically think, feel, and behave, and personality states describe how people think, feel, and behave in a given moment. In their daily lives, people often behave the way they typically do (they enact trait-congruent personality states), but occasionally behave differently from how they typically do (trait-incongruent personality states). Several theories propose that such incongruent personality states should be associated with undesirable outcomes such as less positive affect or more tiredness, but the current state of evidence is inconclusive and mostly based on one only personality dimension: extraversion. In this study, we contribute to filling important gaps in the literature by examining congruence of personality dimensions other than extraversion, considering characteristics of the situation, and modeling congruence with state-of-the-art response surface analyses. We aimed to manipulate perceived adversity and deception of the situation as well as state honesty-humility and state agreeableness in a prisoner’s dilemma paradigm. However, the manipulations had unexpected effects and were therefore considered unsuccessful. The study thus emphasized the difficulty of manipulating personality states, situation characteristics, and congruence in general. In pre-registered cross-sectional response surface analyses and specification curve analyses, we then examined how trait–state congruence and state–situation congruence were associated with cognitive performance in a numerical Stroop task, positive affect, and tiredness. Neither trait–state congruence nor state–situation congruence were associated with positive affect, tiredness, or cognitive performance. Overall, we therefore concluded that congruence may—if at all—only play a minor role in the associations between personality states and relevant outcomes

Introverted goalie versus extraverted center? Comprehensive investigation of Big Five personality traits within and between team sports

Objectives In team sports, many anecdotes and stereotypes report personality differences between athletes of different playing positions. However, by now research shows ambiguous results and often only single sports have been examined. This preregistered study, thus, represents a first comprehensive investigation of differences in personality traits of athletes (1) performing different team sports, (2) being offense players and defense players, as well as (3) playing on different positions. Design In an online survey, we assessed self-reported Big Five personality traits for 2,322 athletes of 16 different (popular – e.g. Basketball and less-known – e.g. Quidditch) team sports using the BFI-2-S (Soto & John, 2017). Further, we assessed their role in the offense and defense phases of a game, their specific playing position as well as demographic and sport-related information. Method We descriptively and statistically investigated differences between personality profiles of different team sports, between offense and defense players within sports, and between playing positions within sports. Additionally, we compared different approaches to assessing offense and defense positions. Results Athletes playing different team sports significantly differed in the personality traits Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness. However, these effects were small (η2 ranging from .01 to .02). Similarly, offense players were found to be significantly more extraverted than defense players, but the effect was again small (ηp2 = .003). Athletes playing offense and defense positions did not significantly differ in any other personality traits regardless of how we operationalized offense and defense. However, we demonstrated that not all playing positions may be easily categorized into offense and defense. Finally, athletes of different playing positions did not differ significantly in their personality traits. As the only exception, Floorball centers were significantly more extraverted than Floorball defenders explaining only about 5% of the variance in trait extraversion scores. Conclusion Our comprehensive investigation demonstrates that there is only a little evidence for differences in Big Five traits for athletes of different team sports and between athletes being offense or defense players, or athletes playing on different playing positions. Thus, ascribed personality differences might indeed just be reflecting stereotypes