Persuasive Messages, Social Norms, and Reactance: A Study of Masking Behavior during a COVID-19 Campus Health Campaign.

Efforts by universities to reduce the spread of COVID-19 include health campaigns intended to encourage students to wear masks. While well-intended, these efforts may produce counter-persuasion (e.g., decrease masking) if they are seen as threatening individuals' freedom to choose. In a rolling cross-sectional study of one university campaign (n = 681), we found that the presence of the campaign did instigate a form of resistance known as reactance and that reactance was negatively associated with masking behavior. Masking was also diminished by the frequency with which respondents observed others not wearing a mask (anti-masking descriptive norm) and the frequency with which respondents observed others expressing disdain for masking (anti-masking injunctive norm). Most of these findings were magnified among students who identified as politically conservative. There was no evidence that the frequency of seeing others speak in favor of masks (pro-masking injunctive norm) produced an increase in masking. The results provide valuable theoretical insights into the causes of reactance and empirical evidence of the risks associated with student-oriented COVID safety campaigns.

Reducing COVID-19 diagnostic errors with dNTPαSe supplementation.

Timely and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 is critical for controlling the pandemic. As the standard method to diagnose SARS-CoV-2, the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) has good convenience. However, RT-qPCR still has a relatively high false-negative rate, particularly in the case of detecting low viral loads. In this study, using selenium-modified nucleoside triphosphates (dNTPαSe) in the RT-PCR reactions, we successfully increased the detection sensitivity and reduced the false-negative rate in COVID-19 diagnosis. By detecting positive controls, pseudovirus, and clinical samples with the commercial kits, we found that the dNTPαSe supplementation to these kits could generally offer smaller Ct values, permit the viral detection even in single-digit copies, and increase the detection specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy, thereby reducing the false-negative rate. Our experimental results demonstrated that dNTPαSe supplementation can make the commercial kits more specific, sensitive, and accurate, and this method is a convenient and efficient strategy for the disease detection and diagnosis.

The Role of Fatigue in a Campus COVID-19 Safety Behaviors Campaign

Message fatigue is the aversive motivational state that results from excessive exposure to campaign messages or similar information over an extended period of time. When fatigued, individuals become less attentive, less responsive, and more resistant to campaign messages and related information. Thus, understanding the bases and functioning of fatigue in persuasive health campaigns has obvious value. Despite considerable interest in this important topic, major questions remain under-studied. One such question hinges on the observation that campaigns are implemented in social systems, not laboratories. Apart from any direct effects that a campaign might produce, there is the potential for secondary exposure via individuals or other media that can yield distinct influences. How do these multiple sources work together to influence fatigue? Second, as explicated, message fatigue is the consequence of repeated exposure to campaign messages over time. With few exceptions, however, fatigue research has employed only cross-sectional designs, which preclude conclusions about the dynamic behavior of fatigue. How does fatigue change over the course of a campaign? Finally, the bases of fatigue are not entirely clear. Whereas fatigue is defined as a subjective judgment of excessive exposure, little is known about the affective processes underlying that judgment. How do emotional responses to a campaign amplify or attenuate fatigue? We examined these questions in the context of a campus COVID-19 safety behaviors campaign. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of American Behavioral Scientist is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Coping with COVID-19 at the community level: Testing the predictors and outcomes of communal coping.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a socially shared health issue that has had profound impacts on all aspects of community life and requires collaborative coping responses. Drawn from the extended theoretical model of communal coping, we examined (a) factors that promote community members' communal coping and (b) the influence of communal coping on perceived stress and positive adaptation in the context of COVID-19. An empirical test based on the survey of participants (N = 257) living in the state of New York showed that strong community identity, but not the length of residency in the same community and integrated connectedness to communication resources of the community, was positively associated with communal coping orientation. Having a higher communal coping orientation was not related to perceived stress, but it was positively related to engagement in COVID-19 preventive behaviors. The implications of these findings for understanding communal coping at the community level and future directions are discussed.

The Effects of Type of Pronouns and Hope Appeals in Supportive Messages About COVID-19

This study examined the role of pronouns in supportive messages and hope appeals in facilitating people's coping with coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Participants included 256 residents of New York State, and they evaluated hypothetical messages about COVID-19. Results showed that when people have a communal orientation to coping, you-language (vs. we-language) supportive messages led to more emotional improvement. The presence (vs. absence) of hope appeals in supportive messages increased communal coping. We discuss the implications of results in promoting emotion- and action-focused coping.

Affection deprivation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A panel study

This study examined the longer-term effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns on relational communication and mental health. Specifically, the study used the theoretic premises of Affection Exchange Theory (AET: Floyd, 2006) to hypothesize connections between affection deprivation and several indices of mental health, including loneliness and depression. The study used a panel design to recruit participants at different time points during the COVID-19 lockdowns. We employed growth modeling to examine how affection deprivation influenced mental health outcomes over time. As predicted, affection deprivation was associated with stress, loneliness, and depression. Contrary to our hypotheses, affection deprivation was not associated with life satisfaction and happiness. In addition, the results showed that sex moderated the relationship between affection deprivation and depression. These findings are discussed in detail, including both theoretical and practical implications as well as directions for future research.