Dataset Information

Sex differences in maladaptive emotional and behavioral responses to COVID-19: What is the role of personality?

ABSTRACT: Males are more non-adherent to public health measures for containing COVID-19 while females experience more COVID-19-related distress. Personality traits may influence both non-adherence and distress. We examined sensation seeking (SS), anxiety sensitivity (AS), impulsivity, and hopelessness as traits potentially associated with non-adherence and distress in response to COVID-19. Furthermore, we sought to understand if known sex differences in SS (male > female) and AS (female > male) may explain sex differences on these two COVID-19 outcomes. In the first month of the pandemic, 400 adults (mean age = 32.16 years; 45.3%F) completed the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale to assess personality. Degree of adherence to public health recommendations and COVID-19-related distress were also measured. Male sex was indirectly related to poorer adherence to stay-at-home advisories via SS, and female sex was indirectly related to higher COVID-19 distress via AS. Personality-targeted interventions may help reduce non-adherence and COVID-19 distress, potentially reducing sex differences.

SUBMITTER: DeGrace S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7973079 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Sex differences in maladaptive emotional and behavioral responses to COVID-19: What is the role of personality?

DeGrace Sarah S Baptist-Mohseni Natasha N Single Alanna A Keough Matthew T MT Wardell Jeffrey D JD Stewart Sherry H SH

Personality and individual differences 20210319

Males are more non-adherent to public health measures for containing COVID-19 while females experience more COVID-19-related distress. Personality traits may influence both non-adherence and distress. We examined sensation seeking (SS), anxiety sensitivity (AS), impulsivity, and hopelessness as traits potentially associated with non-adherence and distress in response to COVID-19. Furthermore, we sought to understand if known sex differences in SS (male > female) and AS (female > male) may explai ...[more]

PMID: 33758454

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectiveDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, people's behaviors have been considered an important factor in the spread of coronavirus. This situation led us to examine the role of personality in human behavior and its outcomes during the pandemic. This study examined the effect of normative, maladaptive, and dark personality traits on the probability of COVID-19 infection as mediated by psychological and behavioral responses to the pandemic.MethodsThe data was collected from 740 Iranians (mean age = 33.34) completing Big Five-10, Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Brief Form (PID-5-BF)-Adult, Short Dark Triad (SD3), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items (DASS-21), and Protective Behaviors inventories. We used structural equation modeling to fit a model from the personality traits to COVID-19 infection through mediating effects of psychological and behavioral responses using cross-sectional data.ResultsAll path models examined fit the data well. The normative traits openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, introversion, and disagreeableness were positively related to social distancing. The pathological traits antagonism, detachment, negative affectivity, disinhibition, and psychoticism, and dark traits psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism were negatively associated with social distancing. Finally, social distancing was negatively related to infection rates and fully mediated all personality links with infection (β = -0.17, p < 0.001).ConclusionThe findings demonstrate that individual differences in personality predict behaviors crucial to pandemic mitigation. Social distancing can be, directly or indirectly, a significant underlying mechanism linking personality traits to the COVID-19 infection. Public health policymakers should consider personality-tailored interventions for maximizing preventive health behaviors and slowing the spread of infection. This knowledge also could contribute to more effective measures to prepare for public health emergencies in the future.

Project description:BackgroundAbout 83,000 COVID-19 patients were confirmed in China up to May 2020. Amid the well-documented threats to physical health, the effects of this public health crisis - and the varied efforts to contain its spread - have altered individuals' "normal" daily functioning. These impacts on social, psychological, and emotional well-being remain relatively unexplored - in particular, the ways in which Chinese men and women experience and respond to potential behavioral stressors. Our study investigated sex differences in psychological stress, emotional reactions, and behavioral responses to COVID-19 and related threats among Chinese residents.MethodsIn late February (2020), an anonymous online questionnaire was disseminated via WeChat, a popular social media platform in China. The cross-sectional study utilized a non-probabilistic "snowball" or convenience sampling of residents from various provinces and regions of China. Basic demographic characteristics (e.g., age and gender) - along with residential living arrangements and conditions - were measured along with psychological stress and emotional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsThree thousand eighty-eight questionnaires were returned: 1749 females (56.6%) and 1339 males (43.4%). The mean stress level,as measured by a visual analog scale, was 3.4 (SD = 2.4) - but differed significantly by sex. Besides sex, factors positively associated with stress included: age (< 45 years), employment (unsteady income, unemployed), risk of infection (exposureto COVID-19, completed medical observation), difficulties encountered (diseases, work/study, financial, mental), and related behaviors (higher desire for COVID-19 knowledge, more time concerning on the COVID-19 outbreak). "Protective" factors included frequent contact with colleagues, calmness of mood comparing with the pre-pandemic, and psychological resilience. Males and females also differed significantly in adapting to current living/working, conditions, responding to run a fever, and needing psychological support services.ConclusionsThe self-reported stress of Chinese residents related to the COVID-19 pandemic was significantly related to sex, age, employment, resilience and coping styles. Future responses to such public health threats may wish to provide sex- and/or age-appropriate supports for psychological health and emotional well-being to those at greatest risk of experiencing stress.

Dataset Information

Sex differences in maladaptive emotional and behavioral responses to COVID-19: What is the role of personality?

Publications

Sex differences in maladaptive emotional and behavioral responses to COVID-19: What is the role of personality?

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets