Compliance with containment measures to the COVID-19 pandemic over time: Do antisocial traits matter?

This study investigated the relationships between antisocial traits and compliance with COVID-19 containment measures. The sample consisted of 1578 Brazilian adults aged 18-73 years who answered facets from the PID-5, the Affective resonance factor of the ACME, and a questionnaire about compliance with containment measures. Latent profile analyses indicated a 2-profile solution: the antisocial pattern profile which presented higher scores in Callousness, Deceitfulness, Hostility, Impulsivity, Irresponsibility, Manipulativeness, and Risk-taking, as well as lower scores in Affective resonance; and the empathy pattern profile which presented higher scores in Affective resonance and lower scores in ASPD typical traits. The latent profile groups showed significant differences between them and interaction with the containment measures and weeks. The antisocial and empathy groups showed significant differences. These differences were sustained in the interaction with the containment measures and weeks separately, but not when all were interacting together. Our findings indicated that antisocial traits, especially lower levels of empathy and higher levels of Callousness, Deceitfulness, and Risk-taking, are directly associated with lower compliance with containment measures. These traits explain, at least partially, the reason why people continue not adhering to the containment measures even with increasing numbers of cases and deaths.

Preliminary findings on the associations between mental health indicators and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aim: Our study investigates associations between social isolation and indicators of general mental health, wellbeing, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and stress in Brazilian adults. Variables to measure aspects to ease the isolation impact (ease-isolating variables) were also included. Method: 539 Brazilian adults were recruited by convenience from March 25 to April 07, 2020. We administered a questionnaire on isolation behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO-5, the GHQ-12, the CLA, the GAD-7, the PSS-10, and the CES-D. To analyze data, we relied upon the network analysis approach. Results: COVID-19 isolation variables showed positive relationships with mental health indicators, and ease-isolating variables presented mixed associations with mental health indicators. For instance, satisfaction with the quality of social interactions connected strongly and positively with the well-being variable, while negatively with loneliness and general psychological symptoms. Conclusions: Our hypotheses were partially confirmed. We can conclude that the damage to mental health associated with social isolation during the pandemic can be minimized by maintaining satisfactory interpersonal relationships. We have three direct recommendations: mental health professionals should (a) elaborate strategies that contemplate the use of virtual tools to alleviate depressive feelings resulting from isolation, (b) give particular attention to risk groups that are most impacted by the isolation imposed by a pandemic situation and may suffer from loneliness, and (c) consider anxiety control strategies for the anxiogenic adverse reaction generated by the worldwide alert in times of disease outbreaks.