Empathy, Fear of Disease and Support for COVID-19 Containment Behaviors: Evidence from 34 Countries on the Moderating Role of Governmental Trust (preprint)

The current study investigated the motives that underlie support for COVID-19 preventive behaviorsin a large, cross-cultural sample of 12,758 individuals from 34 countries. We hypothesized that the associations of empathic prosocial concern and fear of disease, with support towards preventive COVID-19 behaviors would be moderated by the individual-level and country-level trust in the government. Results suggest that the association between fear of disease and support for COVID-19 preventive behaviors was strongest when trust in the government was weak (both at individual and country-level). Conversely, the association with empathic prosocial concern was strongest when trust was high, but this moderation was only found at individual-level scores of governmental trust. We discuss how both fear and empathy motivations to support preventive COVID-19 behaviors may be shaped by socio-cultural context, and outline how the present findings may contribute to a better understanding of collective action during global crises.

Development of Parent-Adolescent Relationships During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Stress and Coping (preprint)

The extensive measures to prevent spread of COVID-19 have had a major impact on families’ daily lives. Changes in family routines and experiences of COVID-19-related stress might negatively impact the quality of parenting and the parent-adolescent relationship. However, using active coping strategies might be associated with limited negative or even positive changes in the parent-adolescent relationship. This longitudinal, multi-informant, and pre-registered study used data of 240 mostly Dutch parents (85% mothers; Mage 44.2 years old) and adolescents (50% girls; Mage 11.4 years) from diverse SES backgrounds. Using Latent Change Score models, we examined how parent-reported parenting (i.e., positive parenting and discipline practices) and adolescent-reported relationship quality (i.e., support and negative interaction) changed from pre-COVID-19 (Fall 2019) to the COVID-19 period (Spring 2020). Moreover, we investigated whether parents’ and adolescents’ level of COVID-19-related stress was associated with the change in relationships, and whether active coping moderated the association between stress and changes in relationships. Results showed average decreases in support, positive parenting, and negative interactions between parents and adolescents. COVID-19-related stress was not a direct predictor of relationship changes and there was little evidence of moderating effects. Only adolescents’ use of active coping strategies moderated the effect of stress on positive parenting. For high active coping adolescents, the link between stress and change in positive parenting was negative, whereas for low active coping adolescents this link was positive. The findings suggest that parent-adolescent relationships during a pandemic need attention, especially for adolescents with high stress levels and using active coping strategies.