Abstract
The dramatic changes in people’s daily lives caused by the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic have had a huge impact on their emotions and behaviors. This study aimed to examine psychosocial responses to COVID-19 using network analysis. A total of 1,500 urban residents of South Korea, selected from an online public panel, were surveyed using self-rating questionnaires addressing daily life changes, fear of infection, and distress related to COVID-19. Participants also completed a 10-item Perceived Stress Scale survey. We constructed regularized partial correlation networks, estimated global and local network metrics, tested network accuracy and stability, and compared the estimated networks between men and women. The network of the psychosocial responses consisted of 24 nodes that were classified into five groups: ‘fear of infection’, ‘difficulty with outside activities’, ‘economic loss’, ‘altered eating and sleeping’, and ‘adaptive stress’. The node centralities indicated that ‘distress in obtaining daily necessities’ and ‘concern about harming others’ were the most important issues in people’s responses to COVID-19. These nodes were connected by a negative edge, reflecting individual- and community-level issues, respectively. The overall level of perceived stress was linked to the network by the connection node ‘anger toward others or society’, which was associated with economic problems in men, but with distress from changes in daily activities in women. The results suggest that two contrasting feelings—personal insecurity regarding basic needs and a collectivistic orientation—play roles in the response to unusual experiences and distress due to COVID-19. This study also showed that public anger could arise from the psychological stress under the conditions imposed by COVID-19.
Highlights
The novel coronavirus pandemic, officially designated the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) by the World Health Organization, has been a major global health crisis
Participants were asked about changes in their daily life after the COVID-19 outbreak, which included nine items on questionnaire A: ‘reluctance to use public transportation (A1),’ ‘trouble going out (A2),’ ‘lower income (A3),’ ‘setbacks with personal schedule (A4),’ ‘setbacks with official schedule (A5),’ ‘irregular diet (A6),’ ‘eating instant food more often (A7),’ ‘irregular sleep schedule (A8),’ and ‘less exercise time (A9).’. They were asked about their concerns about COVID-19 in nine items on questionnaire B: ‘concern about being infected (B1),’ ‘concern about family being infected (B2),’ ‘fear of dying (B3),’ ‘concern about asymptomatic infected people (B4),’ ‘concern about being quarantined (B5),’ ‘concern about disclosure of movement (B6),’ ‘concern about being blamed by others (B7),’ ‘concern about harming others (B8),’ and ‘concern about deteriorating health due to restrictions on hospital visits (B9).’. They were asked to consider their distress related to COVID-19 across six items on questionnaire C: ‘distress obtaining masks or hand sanitizers (C1),’ ‘distress obtaining daily necessities (C2),’ ‘economic stress (C3),’ ‘distress from family support (C4),’ ‘distress from changes in daily activities (C5),’ and ‘anger toward others or society (C6).’
We assumed a network of responses to unusualness consisting of the 24 items from the three questionnaires (A, B, and C) on daily life changes, fear, and distress related to COVID-19
Summary
The novel coronavirus pandemic, officially designated the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19) by the World Health Organization, has been a major global health crisis. The dramatic increase in the number of patients has resulted in severe shortages of medical resources, personnel, and supplies [4]. Government authorities have had to implement stringent public health measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19, including quarantining those in close contact with a patient or overseas entrant, restricting public gatherings, shutting down schools, and requiring mandatory wearing of face masks in public facilities, as well as other social distancing policies. Most have stayed at home unless absolutely necessary (e.g., for work, medical treatment, or supplies). The continuation of this situation has triggered a global economic downturn, leading to poor company performance, increased unemployment, and reduced incomes for many [6]. The emotional stress and maladaptive behaviors of the general population have further revealed and exacerbated existing social and mental health problems [7,8,9], while introducing many more
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