"Everything Will Be All Right!" National and European Identification as Predictors of Positive Expectations for the Future During the COVID-19 Emergency.

Silvia Moscatelli,Anna Rita Graziani,Stefano Ciaffoni,Lucia Botindari,Michela Menegatti

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.723518

Abstract

During the first national lockdown imposed in a Western country to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Italians tried to boost their spirits by hanging hand-drawn rainbows with the slogan “Everything will be all right” from their windows. To understand which processes might have nurtured their positive views about the future during the pandemic, the present study (N=846), building upon social identity research, examined the relationships among Italians’ identification with their country and with the superordinate entity of the European Union (EU), trust in the main institutions in charge of managing the crisis (i.e., the Italian government, the EU, and the scientific community), and beliefs that the COVID-19 crisis would eventually result in the improvement of society. Structural equation modeling analyses showed that identification with Italians and Europeans had positive direct associations with positive expectations about humankind. Identification with Europeans was also directly related to positive expectations about Italian leaders and the strengthening of the EU through the crisis. Trust in the Italian government and, to a lower extent, trust in the EU mediated some of these associations. These findings suggest that governments should actively promote national and European identification to help citizens counter the negative psychological impact of the pandemic and maintain positive views of the future.

Highlights

Since the end of 2019, COVID-19, a new acute respiratory syndrome in humans, has affected the lives of many people in different ways all over the world (Phelan et al, 2020; WHO, 2020)
Whereas optimism is generally conceived as a personality trait and a rather stable individual characteristic (Scheier and Carver, 1985), in this research, we focused on possible antecedents of more specific beliefs that the COVID-19 crisis might eventually result in the improvement of society and humankind
The findings revealed that the model fit was acceptable, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.955, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.912, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.068, and SRMR = 0.041

Summary

Introduction

Since the end of 2019, COVID-19, a new acute respiratory syndrome in humans, has affected the lives of many people in different ways all over the world (Phelan et al, 2020; WHO, 2020). Was the first Western country to be hit by the COVID-19 outbreak and, at the beginning of March 2020, presented the world’s highest intensity of coronavirus infections (Taddei, 2020). To flatten the infection curve, the Italian Prime Minister imposed a strict nationwide lockdown on March 9, 2020: The operations of schools, universities, and all non-essential industries and businesses were halted, and free movement was forbidden, except for essential reasons. The eyes of the entire Western world were on Italy, and media around the world shared the images of the country’s desolate cities. Italians were attempting to boost their spirits and communicate their hopes that the COVID-19 outbreak would be over soon and might even have positive outcomes

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