The effect of self-esteem on the spread of a pandemic. A cross-country analysis of the role played by self-esteem in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Alfano V
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10030268 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Motivated by the varying effectiveness of government intervention policies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, and the potential positive relationship between ethnolinguistic diversity and social distance, this paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the relationship between ethnolinguistic diversity and the spread of COVID-19. In particular, using global data from 113 developed and developing countries during the early stages of the pandemic (from 31 December 2019 to 8 July 2020), we have found a significant negative effect of ethnolinguistic diversity on the spread of the virus. The result is robust to alternative measures of ethnolinguistic diversity and estimator that addresses endogeneity. Moreover, we also show that the impact of ethnolinguistic diversity on the spread of COVID-19 differs in economies characterized by different levels of democracy, policy stringency on addressing COVID-19 and health expenditure.
| S-EPMC9452158 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Self-esteem stability describes fluctuations in the level of self-esteem experienced by individuals over a brief period of time. In recent decades, self-esteem stability has repeatedly been shown to be an important variable affecting psychological functioning. However, measures of self-esteem stability are few and lacking in validity. In this paper, we present the Self-Esteem Stability Scale (SESS), a unidimensional and very brief scale to directly assess self-esteem stability. In four studies (total N = 826), we describe the development of the SESS and present evidence for its validity with respect to individual outcomes (life satisfaction, neuroticism, and vulnerable narcissism) and dyadic outcomes (relationship satisfaction in self- and partner ratings) through direct comparisons with existing measures. The new SESS proved to be a stronger predictor than the existing scales and had incremental validity over and above self-esteem level. The results also showed that all cross-sectional measures of self-esteem stability were only moderately associated with variability in self-esteem levels assessed longitudinally with multiple administrations of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. We discuss this validity issue, arguing that direct and indirect assessment approaches measure relevant, yet different aspects of self-esteem stability.
| S-EPMC5816969 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionAdolescence is the period in which individual and social identity, including self-esteem and body image perception, is consolidated. During the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns were ordered, and adolescents experienced an abrupt disruption in their lives. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (pre- or postpandemic period) on self-esteem and body image.MethodologyA cross-sectional study of Spanish adolescents was conducted between 2016 and 2023. Participants were categorized according to the COVID-19 period (pre- or postpandemic period). The Rosenberg Questionnaire and Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) were administered to evaluate self-esteem and satisfaction with body image.ResultsA total of 627 adolescents were analysed. Of these adolescents, 297 (47.3%) were included in the postpandemic group. In both girls (32.75 ± 5.23 vs. 28.19 ± 6.59; p < 0.001) and boys (33.53 ± 4.08 vs. 32.18 ± 4.87; p = 0.005), significant differences in the Rosenberg Questionnaire and BSQ scores were observed between the prepandemic group and the postpandemic group. Adolescents in the postpandemic group (adjusted OR [aOR]: 5.24; 95% CI: 2.61-10.51; p < 0.001) had a greater risk of low self-esteem. Both good and regular-poor self-perceived health were significantly associated with female sex. Moreover, adolescents in the postpandemic group (aOR: 3.06; 95% CI: 1.94-4.82; P < 0.001) and female adolescents with self-perceived good and fair-poor health had an increased risk of mild self-esteem. Additionally, the postpandemic period (aOR: 5.42 95% CI: 2.96-9.93; p < 0.001), female sex, obesity and regular-poor self-perceived health were significantly associated with dissatisfaction about body shape.ConclusionsAdolescents in the postpandemic group had worse self-esteem and body image scores, and adolescents in this group were more likely to be female and had a greater risk of low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction.
| S-EPMC11834238 | biostudies-literature
Project description:COVID-19 has had far-reaching global effects on the health and wellbeing of individuals on every continent. The economic and financial market response has been equally disastrous with high levels of volatility observed. This study explores the temporal relations between structural breaks, market volatility and government stay-at-home policy interventions and social distancing measures for 28 countries and their respective indices. We present results which indicate the establishment of stay-at-home policies influence sharp discontinuities in 15 of 28 markets (53.57 %) and increase market efficiency in 30 of 49 cases observed (61.22 %). These results indicate a small, statistically significant degree of stabilization in international financial markets responding to government stay-at-home policies and social distancing measures, a promising result for political actors concerned with economic performance during the public health response to the coronavirus 2019 pandemic.
| S-EPMC9756006 | biostudies-literature
Project description:It has been reported that the transmission of COVID-19 can be influenced by the variation of environmental factors due to the seasonal cycle. However, its underlying mechanism in the current and onward transmission pattern remains unclear owing to the limited data and difficulties in separating the impacts of social distancing. Understanding the role of seasonality in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is imperative in formulating public health interventions. Here, the seasonal signals of the COVID-19 time series are extracted using the EEMD method, and a modified Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Recovered (SEIR) model incorporated with seasonal factors is introduced to quantify its impact on the current COVID-19 pandemic. Seasonal signals decomposed via the EEMD method indicate that infectivity and mortality of SARS-CoV-2 are both higher in colder climates. The quantitative simulation shows that the cold season in the Southern Hemisphere countries caused a 59.71 ± 8.72% increase of the total infections, while the warm season in the Northern Hemisphere countries contributed to a 46.38 ± 29.10% reduction. COVID-19 seasonality is more pronounced at higher latitudes, where larger seasonal amplitudes of environmental indicators are observed. Seasonality alone is not sufficient to curb the virus transmission to an extent that intervention measures are no longer needed, but health care capacity should be scaled up in preparation for new surges in COVID-19 cases in the upcoming cold season. Our study highlights the necessity of considering seasonal factors when formulating intervention strategies.
| S-EPMC7892320 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe time delay between the start of an influenza pandemic and its subsequent initiation in other countries is highly relevant to preparedness planning. We quantify the distribution of this random time in terms of the separate components of this delay, and assess how the delay may be extended by non-pharmaceutical interventions.Methods and findingsThe model constructed for this time delay accounts for: (i) epidemic growth in the source region, (ii) the delay until an infected individual from the source region seeks to travel to an at-risk country, (iii) the chance that infected travelers are detected by screening at exit and entry borders, (iv) the possibility of in-flight transmission, (v) the chance that an infected arrival might not initiate an epidemic, and (vi) the delay until infection in the at-risk country gathers momentum. Efforts that reduce the disease reproduction number in the source region below two and severe travel restrictions are most effective for delaying a local epidemic, and under favourable circumstances, could add several months to the delay. On the other hand, the model predicts that border screening for symptomatic infection, wearing a protective mask during travel, promoting early presentation of cases arising among arriving passengers and moderate reduction in travel volumes increase the delay only by a matter of days or weeks. Elevated in-flight transmission reduces the delay only minimally.ConclusionsThe delay until an epidemic of pandemic strain influenza is imported into an at-risk country is largely determined by the course of the epidemic in the source region and the number of travelers attempting to enter the at-risk country, and is little affected by non-pharmaceutical interventions targeting these travelers. Short of preventing international travel altogether, eradicating a nascent pandemic in the source region appears to be the only reliable method of preventing country-to-country spread of a pandemic strain of influenza.
| S-EPMC1764036 | biostudies-literature
Project description:It is still not well understood how and why developmental trajectories of self-esteem change, particularly in late life. We investigated the role of resources for self-esteem change across adulthood. In detail, we explored between-person differences in self-esteem levels and change in relation to resources with participants who ranged in age from 17 to 100 years. Study 1 consisted of a cross-sectional representative German sample of 12,609 participants, where we observed few age differences in mean levels of self-esteem across adulthood. Being married or in a relationship and positive subjective health were associated with higher levels of self-esteem. In addition, relations of resources of subjective health as well as neuroticism with self-esteem appeared to be smaller in late compared to young adulthood. Longitudinal studies including young (N = 338) and older adults (N = 325) indicated both reasonably high stability regarding rank-order and mean levels of self-esteem across 4 and 8 years. Again, age-differential resources appeared to be important for higher levels of self-esteem with education being related to self-esteem in young adults and subjective health in late life. However, no resource was associated with changes in self-esteem in either young or late adulthood. Overall, findings suggest that self-esteem levels are reflective of age-specific constraints and risks.
| S-EPMC5549149 | biostudies-other
Project description:ObjectiveGiven their unique COVID-19 pandemic experience, it is necessary to evaluate the mental health of youth beyond the initial stages of the pandemic, in relation to the stringency of the social distancing measures. We aimed to describe long-term trends in emotional well-being and self-esteem among youth in Japan during the pandemic.MethodUsing serial cross-sectional data from April 2020 to December 2021, we evaluated the trends in emotional well-being and self-esteem of youth aged 6-17 years using the self-report KINDL questionnaire, weighted to represent the age and gender distributions in the Japanese population. We then tested the associations between emotional well-being and self-esteem and stringency of social distancing policies, measured using the Oxford COVID-19 Stringency Index. Analyses were also stratified by gender and age group.ResultsThe emotional well-being and self-esteem of youth improved transiently in 2020, followed by a slight worsening trend into 2021. While emotional well-being stayed lower compared to initial levels nearly 2 years into the pandemic, self-esteem began to improve by late 2021. 12-17 year-olds had lower emotional well-being and self-esteem compared to 6-11 year-olds throughout the study period. Females had lower emotional well-being than males in May 2020 and lower self-esteem than males in May and September/October 2020. More stringent social distancing measures were associated with lower emotional well-being and self-esteem, especially 6-11 year-olds' self-esteem and females' emotional well-being.ConclusionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, older youth tended to have lower emotional well-being and self-esteem than younger youth. Younger and female youth were especially vulnerable to stringent social distancing measures.
| S-EPMC9685852 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the global economy. In this paper, we use the Phillips curve to compare and analyze the macroeconomics of three different countries with distinct income levels, namely, lower-middle (Nigeria), upper-middle (South Africa), and high (Canada) income. We aim to (1) find macroeconomic changes in the three countries during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic time, (2) compare the countries in terms of response to the COVID-19 economic crisis, and (3) compare their expected economic reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in the near future. An advantage to our work is that we analyze macroeconomics on a monthly basis to capture the shocks and rapid changes caused by on and off rounds of lockdowns. We use the volume and social sentiments of the Twitter data to approximate the macroeconomic statistics. We apply four different machine learning algorithms to estimate the unemployment rate of South Africa and Nigeria on monthly basis. The results show that at the beginning of the pandemic the unemployment rate increased for all the three countries. However, Canada was able to control and reduce the unemployment rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, in line with the Phillips curve short-run, the inflation rate of Canada increased to a level that has never occurred in more than fifteen years. Nigeria and South Africa have not been able to control the unemployment rate and did not return to the pre-COVID-19 level. Yet, the inflation rate has increased in both countries. The inflation rate is still comparable to the pre-COVID-19 level in South Africa, but based on the Phillips curve short-run, it will increase further, if the unemployment rate decreases. Unfortunately, Nigeria is experiencing a horrible stagflation and a wild increase in both unemployment and inflation rates. This shows how vulnerable lower-middle-income countries could be to lockdowns and economic restrictions. In the near future, the main concern for all the countries is the high inflation rate. This work can potentially lead to more targeted and publicly acceptable policies based on social media content.
| S-EPMC9401163 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTrust is a key determinant of health, but has been undermined by the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated infodemic. Using data from eight countries, we aimed to epidemiologically describe levels of trust in health, governments, news media organisations, and experts, and measure the impact of political orientation and COVID-19 information sources on participant's levels of trust.MethodsWe simultaneously conducted a stratified randomised online cross-sectional study across eight countries on adults aged ≥18 years between 6 and 18 November 2020. We employed crude and adjusted weighted regression analyses.ResultsWe included 9027 adults with a mean age of 47 years (range = 18-99), of whom 4667 (51.7%) were female. Trust in health experts ranked highest across all countries (mean (x̄) = 7.83; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 7.79-7.88), while trust in politicians ranked lowest (x̄ = 5.34; 95% CI = 5.28, 5.40). In adjusted analyses, political orientation and utilised information sources were significantly associated with trust. Individuals using higher levels of health information sources trusted health authorities more than those using lower levels (mean difference = 1.12; 95% CI = 1.02, 1.14). Similarly, individuals using higher levels of government information sources (mean difference = 1.55; 95% CI = 1.43, 1.64) and those using higher levels of new media information sources (mean difference = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.06, 1.28) had highest trust in governments/politicians and news media, respectively. However, there was little difference in trust in health, government, or news media between individuals using higher or lower levels of social media information sources.ConclusionsTrust is a key determinant of health, but has been politically fragile during this infodemic. High compliance with public health measures is key to combatting infectious diseases. In terms of people's trust, our findings suggest that politicians and governments worldwide should coordinate their response with health experts and authorities to maximise the success of public health measures.
| S-EPMC10471152 | biostudies-literature