How healthcare workers respond to COVID-19: The role of vulnerability and social support in a close relationships defense mechanism.

ABSTRACT: Healthcare workers play a vital role in the fight against COVID-19. Based on Terror Management Theory (TMT), the present research examined whether a close relationships defense mechanism reduces anxiety among healthcare workers (N = 729) in China. Our results suggest that this defense mechanism, as indexed by relationship satisfaction, serves as an effective terror management source after exposure to reminders of death (MS; mortality salience). These findings extend TMT by identifying two moderating variables: vulnerability and social support. In a low objective vulnerability group, healthcare workers who subjectively believed themselves as less vulnerable to COVID-19 showed a stronger defense mechanism after a MS manipulation as compared to those who felt more vulnerable. Further, healthc

SUBMITTER: Chen Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8549441 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature