Abstract
The present research investigated a backfiring effect of social interaction on well-being and general confidence in Western populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across two studies, we observed that stronger self-other connectedness and frequent social communication with others during the first few weeks into the quarantine period were associated with worsened well-being and decreased general confidence. In Study 1 (n = 331), we showed that people who reported higher social connectedness and more frequent social interaction experienced declined well-being. In Study 2 (n = 327), we replicated the backfiring effect and showed that those who engaged in frequent social interaction, especially in COVID-19 related conversations, reported decreased general confidence, which mediated the accelerating effect of social interaction on panic buying. Overall, our findings indicated that frequent social interaction under a highly novel and uncertain crisis can relate to negative consequences on mental health and behavior.
Highlights
The COVID-19 outbreak which started in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province in the People’s Republic of China has led to over seven million infected cases and 400,000 deaths as of early June 2020 across the globe (Worldometers, 2020)
Our analyses revealed that the effects of our predictor variables on the after measures were significant after accounting for the before measures
Following the results observed in Study 1, we examined whether the content of social interaction, especially conversations about COVID-19 related topics uniquely contributed to the backfiring effect on subjective well-being
Summary
The COVID-19 outbreak which started in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province in the People’s Republic of China has led to over seven million infected cases and 400,000 deaths as of early June 2020 across the globe (Worldometers, 2020). To slow down the spread of COVID-19, few essential government measures had been implemented Of those measures, rules for staying in quarantine and keeping the distance, so called the practice of “social distancing” were amongst crucial measures to be imposed for effectively flattening the curve of daily confirmed cases (Hamzelou, 2020; Piguillem and Shi, 2020). Rules for staying in quarantine and keeping the distance, so called the practice of “social distancing” were amongst crucial measures to be imposed for effectively flattening the curve of daily confirmed cases (Hamzelou, 2020; Piguillem and Shi, 2020)1 This measure, has been reported to produce various negative psychological consequences that are related to well-being (e.g., Ingram et al, 2020; Wei, 2020) and compliance behavior (Brooks et al, 2020). Our data collection took place on the 19th of April (Study 1), and the 1st of May (Study 2) in 2020
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