Looking Hateworthy: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Chinese Phenotypicality and COVID-19-Related Prejudice and Discrimination
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Choi S
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9664760 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:OBJECTIVES:This research examined how conspiracy mentality may affect compliance with preventive health measures necessary to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, and the underlying motivations to comply. DESIGN AND METHOD:We conducted two cross-sectional studies (Study 1 N = 762, Study 2 N = 229) on a French population, measuring conspiracy mentality, compliance with preventive health measures, and perceived risks related to COVID-19. We also measured motivations to comply with preventive measures in Study 2. RESULTS:We show that people high in conspiracy mentality are likely to engage in non-normative prevention behaviours (Study 1), but are less willing to comply with extreme preventive behaviours that are government-driven (Study 2). However, we demonstrate that a perceived risk to oneself (risk of death) and a motivation to protect oneself can act as a suppressor: Conspiracy mentality is linked with an increase in the perception of risk to oneself, which, in turn, is associated with normative compliance. We also find that perceived risk of death explains the relationship between conspiracy mentality and non-normative prevention behaviours. CONCLUSIONS:Our studies showcase how people high in conspiracy theorizing may (dis)engage with prevention behaviours, but that perceived risk and motivation to protect oneself could increase these individuals' compliance.
| S-EPMC7361332 | biostudies-literature
Project description:About one in six Asian Americans have fallen victim to anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic [J. Lee, K. Ramakrishnan, aapidata.com/blog/discrimination-survey-2022/]. By examining anti-Asian racism in the United States primarily as a domestic issue, most prior studies have overlooked the connections between shifting US-China relations and Americans' prejudices against the Chinese in China and, by extension, East Asian Americans. This study investigates the patterns and perceptual bases of nationality-based prejudices against Chinese amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Our nationally representative online survey experiment reveals that Americans assess a hypothetical Chinese person in China as inferior in multiple social and psychological characteristics to an otherwise identical Japanese person in Japan or East Asian American. Furthermore, subjects who perceive China as more threatening to America's national interests assess Chinese more negatively, especially in terms of trustworthiness and morality, suggesting that perceived China threats propel Americans' negative stereotypes about Chinese. A contextual analysis further indicates that counties with a higher share of Trump voters in 2016 tend to perceive all East Asian-origin groups similarly as a racial outgroup. By contrast, residents in predominantly Democrat-voting counties tend to perceive Chinese in China more negatively relative to Asian Americans, despite broadly viewing East Asians more favorably. Overall, this study underscores the often-overlooked relationships between the prevailing anti-Asian sentiments in the United States and the US-China geopolitical tensions and America's domestic political polarization.
| S-EPMC9704692 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In the United States, anti-Asian sentiment has pervaded the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Could Americans' fear of contracting the virus relate to prejudice against Asian individuals? According to intergroup threat theory, prejudice increases toward groups of people when they are perceived as a likely cause of symbolic and/or real threat, including disease threat. We tested this perspective in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic by investigating the relationship between Americans' concern about contracting COVID-19 and their feelings toward individuals from multiple countries. Between May 12-14 2020, participants residing in the United States (N = 932) completed an online survey assessing their (1) perceived threat of COVID-19 infection, (2) feelings of warmth and coldness toward people in America, China, Italy, Japan, and Greece, and (3) trait-level prejudice. Perceived threat of COVID-19 infection differentially related to feelings toward American and Chinese nationals and was unrelated to feelings toward people from other countries assessed. Specifically, greater threat of infection was associated with less warmth toward individuals from China, an effect moderated by trait-level prejudice. That is, participants high (but not medium or low) in trait prejudice showed a significant relationship between threat of COVID-19 infection and reduced warmth toward Chinese individuals. Threat of infection also related to greater warmth and less coldness toward American nationals, consistent with prior work indicating that disease threats amplify ethnocentrism. Collectively, results suggest that perceived threat of COVID-19 infection may correspond with prejudice toward the national outgroup associated with the disease's origin (i.e., China), as well as national ingroup favoritism, among Americans prone to prejudice.
| S-EPMC9789367 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDue to the persistence of COVID-19, it remains important to measure and examine potential barriers to COVID-19 prevention and treatment to avert additional loss of life, particularly among stigmatized populations, such as people who inject drugs (PWID), who are at high risk for contracting and spreading SARS-CoV-2. We assessed the psychometrics of a novel COVID-19 response-related discrimination scale among PWID, and characterized associations between COVID-19 response-related discrimination, resilience to adversity, and endorsement of COVID-19 disinformation.MethodsWe assessed internal reliability, structural validity and construct validity of a 4-item COVID-19 response-related discrimination scale among PWID living in San Diego County, completing interviewer-administered surveys between October 2020 and September 2021. Using negative binomial regression, we assessed the relationship between COVID-19 response-related discrimination and disinformation and the potential moderating role of resilience.ResultsOf 381 PWID, mean age was 42.6 years and the majority were male (75.6 %) and Hispanic (61.9 %). The COVID-19 response-related discrimination scale had modest reliability (α = 0.66, ω = 0.66) as a single construct with acceptable construct validity (all p ≤ 0.05). Among 216 PWID who completed supplemental surveys, a significant association between COVID-19 response-related discrimination and COVID-19 disinformation was observed, which was moderated by resilience (p = 0.044). Specifically, among PWID with high levels of resilience, endorsement of COVID-19 disinformation significantly increased as exposure to COVID-19 response-related discrimination increased (p = 0.011).ConclusionsThese findings suggest that intervening on COVID-19 response-related discrimination may offset the negative outcomes associated with COVID-19 disinformation.
| S-EPMC9981478 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDisasters such as earthquakes, terrorism, and pandemics have triggered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and discrimination against the affected individuals has been linked to the development of PTSD. However, there is limited evidence regarding the association between discrimination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients and probable PTSD in Japan.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study utilizing a web-based questionnaire targeting individuals who had contracted the severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Sapporo City. A total of 4,247 individuals with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection spanning from February 2020 to February 2022 completed the questionnaire (response rate: 15.9%). Probable PTSD was measured using the three-item Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale. The stratified exact logistic regression was applied to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) of probable PTSD for COVID-19-related discrimination with adjusted factors.ResultsThis study included 3,626 patients who had a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Among them, 321 patients (8.9%) experienced COVID-19-related discrimination. The prevalence of probable PTSD was 19.6% (63/321) among the patients who experienced COVID-19-related discrimination, and 4.6% (152/3,305) among those who had not encountered such discrimination. The adjusted OR of COVID-19-related discrimination for probable PTSD was 4.68 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.36-6.53). The population attributable fraction of probable PTSD attributable to COVID-19-related discrimination among COVID-19 patients was estimated to be 23.4% (95% CI, 21.5-25.3%).ConclusionThe comprehensive epidemiological survey of COVID-19 patients in Japan showed that COVID-19-related discrimination was associated with a higher prevalence of probable PTSD. Mitigating discrimination could be helpful to attenuate PTSD in future pandemics.
| S-EPMC11564067 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe outbreak and global spread of COVID-19 was accompanied by an increase in reports of stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people. The behavioral immune system provides a framework for stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats. Specifically, stigmatization might increase with rising levels of infectious disease threat. The present study aimed to examine this hypothesis during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsAs part of the "EUCLID" project ( https://euclid.dbvis.de ), a total of 5011 persons from Germany were surveyed via an online-questionnaire between February 2nd and April 3rd, 2020, covering the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic over three time periods which were defined by critical events.ResultsThere was no evidence for an increase in the stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people across three topics, that is personal proximity, air travel, and medical measures upon arrival from China.ConclusionsThe present findings provide good news in that participants showed an adaptive response to the infectious disease threat rather than displaying increased stigmatization. Further research is necessary to specify the conditions that increase the risk of stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats.
| S-EPMC8253234 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSeveral observational studies demonstrated that pregnant individuals with COVID-19 had a higher risk of preeclampsia and preterm birth. We aimed to determine whether women with COVID-19 diagnosis had adverse pregnancy outcomes.MethodsA two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis in this study was used to evaluate the casual relationships between COVID-19 infection and obstetric-related diseases based on genome-wide association studies (GWAS) dataset. Inverse-variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger and MR-PRESSO were used to infer the connection and estimate the pleiotropy respectively.ResultsThe significant connection was observed between COVID-19 and placental disorders with betaIVW of 1.57 and odds ratio (OR) of 4.81 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.05-22.05, p = 0.04). However, there were no associations between COVID-19 infection and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (OR = 1.12; 95% CI: 0.85-1.45, p = 0.41), other disorders of amniotic fluid and membranes (OR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.61-1.32, p = 0.59), Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy (ICP) (OR = 1.42; 95% CI: 0.85-2.36, p = 0.18), birth weight (OR = 1.02; 95% CI: 0.99-1.05, p = 0.19), gestational hypertension (OR = 1.00; 95% CI: 1.00-1.00, p = 0.85), spontaneous miscarriages (OR = 1.00; 95% CI: 0.96-1.04, p = 0.90) and stillbirth (OR = 1.00; 95% CI: 0.98-1.01, p = 0.62).ConclusionThere was no direct causal relationship between COVID-19 infection and maternal and neonatal poor outcomes. Our study could alleviate the anxiety of pregnant women under the COVID-19 pandemic conditions partly.
| S-EPMC10964700 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTo retrospectively evaluate several clinical indicators related to the improvement of COVID-19 pneumonia on CT.MethodsA total of 62 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were included. The CT scores based on lesion patterns and distributions in serial CT were investigated. The improvement and deterioration of pneumonia was assessed based on the changes of CT scores. Grouped by using the temperature, serum lymphocytes and high sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) on admission respectively, the CT scores on admission, at peak time and at discharge were evaluated. Correlation analysis was carried out between the time to onset of pneumonia resolution on CT images and the recovery time of temperature, negative conversion of viral nucleic acid, serum lymphocytes and hs-CRP.ResultsThe CT scores of the fever group and lymphopenia group were significantly higher than those of normal group on admission, at peak time and at discharge; and the CT scores of normal hs-CRP group were significantly lower than those of the elevated hs-CRP group at peak time and at discharge (P all<0.05). The time to onset of pneumonia resolution on CT image was moderately correlated with negative conversion duration of viral nucleic acid (r =0.501, P<0.05) and the recovery time of hs-CPR (r =0.496, P<0.05).ConclusionsCOVID-19 pneumonia patients with no fever, normal lymphocytes and hs-CRP had mild lesions on admission, and presented with more absorption and fewer pulmonary lesions on discharge. The negative conversion duration of viral nucleic acid and the recovery time of hs-CPR may be the indicator of the pneumonia resolution.
| S-EPMC7656389 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC9760301 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic and the mitigation measures put in place have resulted in universal disruption in the usual ways of life for individuals. The current study sought to investigate how aspects of sexual health (well-being and functioning) and relationship satisfaction changed or remained stable during the pandemic. During two separate time points (Time 1 including Time 1 and a retrospective baseline, Time 2), participants completed online measures of sexual well-being (sexual pleasure, partnered and solitary orgasm frequency, sexual distress), sexual functioning, and relationship satisfaction. Participants reported slight declines in sexual pleasure, frequency of orgasms with a partner, and frequency of solitary orgasms from pre-COVID-19 (retrospective baseline) to Time 1, with no significant differences in sexual distress and relationship satisfaction. For individuals with vulvas, sexual functioning improved from Time 1 to Time 2, whereas no significant differences in sexual functioning were observed for individuals with penises. Aspects of sexual health and relational satisfaction did not sufficiently change across time points to be considered meaningful health outcome changes. Given that minimal disruptions were noted in pre-COVID-19 to COVID-19 sexuality, these results highlight the potential resiliency of individuals' sexuality when facing sudden changes in their daily lives. Implications of COVID-19's effects on sexual well-being and relationship satisfaction research are broadly discussed.
| S-EPMC8776387 | biostudies-literature