The Resilience of South African School Teachers in the Time of COVID-19: Coping with Risk of Infection, Loneliness, and Anxiety.

The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated an overall increase in the global prevalence of mental health disorders and psychological distress. However, against this backdrop, there was also evidence of adaptation and coping, which suggested the influence of protective factors. The current study aims to extend previous research on the role of protective factors by investigating the health-sustaining and mediating roles of resilience in the relationship between perceived vulnerability to disease, loneliness, and anxiety. Participants consisted of a convenience sample of schoolteachers (N = 355) who completed the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire, the short form of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, and the trait scale of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale, through an online link created with Google Forms. The results of path analysis indicated significant negative associations between resilience and both loneliness and anxiety. These results indicate the health-sustaining role of resilience. In addition, resilience mediated the relationships between germ aversion and perceived infectability, on the one hand, and loneliness and anxiety, on the other hand. The findings confirm that resilience can play a substantial role in counteracting the negative impact of the pandemic on mental health.

People with High Perceived Infectability Are More Likely to Spread Rumors in the Context of COVID-19: A Behavioral Immune System Perspective.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many studies have explored the influencing factors of rumor spreading, such as anxiety, risk perception and information source credibility, but few studies have focused on the impact of individual differences. Based on the theory of behavioral immune systems, we investigated the impact of perceived infectability on rumor spreading and the mediating role of rumor trust in the context of COVID-19. Two studies were investigated using the scale and recall-report task of rumor spreading. The results show that perceived infectability was a significant positive predictor of rumor spreading. However, the impact of perceived infectability on rumor spreading was not direct, and it mainly indirectly affected rumor spreading through the mediating role of rumor trust. Overall, the findings suggest that individuals with high perceived infectability are more likely to believe rumors and then spread rumors during the epidemic. This study advances the literature on rumor spreading and behavioral immune systems and provides practical implications to anti-rumor campaigns.

Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire: psychometric validation with a Portuguese sample.

BACKGROUND: Individual differences in one's perceived vulnerability to infectious diseases are implicated in psychological distress, social and behavioral disease avoidance phenomena. The Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire (PVD) is the most extensively used measure when it comes to assessing subjective vulnerability to infectious diseases. However, this measure is not yet accessible to the Portuguese population. The present study aimed to adapt and validate the PVD with 136 Portuguese participants. METHODS: Factorial, convergent and discriminant validity (of both the scale and between each factor), and reliability analysis were assessed. RESULTS: A modified bifactorial model, comprised of Perceived Infectability and Germ Aversion factors, was obtained, with acceptable goodness-of-fit indices, adequate convergent and discriminant validity, and good internal consistencies. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the 10-items European-Portuguese PVD appears to be a reliable and valid measure of one's perceived vulnerability to disease, with potential relevance for application in both research and clinical practice pertaining to disease-avoidance processes.

Influence of Psychological Factors on Vaccination Acceptance among Health Care Workers in Slovenia in Three Different Phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among healthcare workers (HCWs) is very important to control the pandemic and to ensure the safety of HCWs and patients. As psychological factors may affect the decision to be vaccinated, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of psychological factors on vaccination acceptance in different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study using a web-based survey was conducted among HCWs in Slovenia at the beginning of the pandemic (N = 851), one month later (N = 86), and one year later (N = 145) when vaccines were already available. The results showed that the influence of psychological factors (anxiety, psychological burden, perceived infectability, and germ aversion) was specific for each survey period. At the beginning of the pandemic, vaccination intention was positively associated with anxiety. In the third survey period, anxiety was not exposed as a predictive factor for vaccination intention. However, comparison of vaccination status among groups with different levels of anxiety revealed an interesting distinction within those in favour of vaccination; in the group with minimal levels of anxiety, there was a relatively high share of respondents that were already vaccinated, whereas in the group with severe anxiety, most individuals intended to be vaccinated but hesitated to take action.

Factors affecting Pakistani young adults' intentions to uptake COVID-19 vaccination: An extension of the theory of planned behavior.

INTRODUCTION: Aside from personal beliefs, young adults' intention to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine can be influenced by their fear of COVID-19 and perceived infectability of COVID-19. The present study incorporated fear of COVID-19 and perceived infectability with the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to form an expanded TPB to analyze factors affecting Pakistani young adults' intentions to uptake the COVID-vaccine in Pakistan. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted and recruited participants from Pakistani social media users. The proposed extended TPB model was examined by using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: A total of 1034 individuals replied to the survey. The three factors of the original theory of planned behavior and the fear of COVID-19 were positively related to their intention to uptake COVID-19 vaccination (r = 0.25-0.66). Moreover, the perceived infectability positively influenced the three theories of planned behavioral factors and the fear of COVID-19 (r = 0.27-0.60), also affecting the participants' intentions to uptake COVID-19 vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Perceived infectability was positively related to the participants' intentions to uptake COVID-19 vaccination, and perceived behavioral control was the strongest mediator. More evidence-based information concerning treatments and COVID-19 vaccination are needed to encourage individuals to uptake the vaccine.

Fear of COVID-19 and Perceived COVID-19 Infectability Supplement Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain Iranians' Intention to Get COVID-19 Vaccinated.

One of the most efficient methods to control the high infection rate of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is to have a high coverage of COVID-19 vaccination worldwide. Therefore, it is important to understand individuals' intention to get COVID-19 vaccinated. The present study applied the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to explain the intention to get COVID-19 vaccinated among a representative sample in Qazvin, Iran. The TPB uses psychological constructs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control to explain an individual's intention to perform a behavior. Fear and perceived infectability were additionally incorporated into the TPB to explain the intention to get COVID-19 vaccinated. Utilizing multistage stratified cluster sampling, 10,843 participants (4092 males; 37.7%) with a mean age of 35.54 years (SD = 12.00) completed a survey. The survey assessed TPB constructs (including attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention related to COVID-19 vaccination) together with fear of COVID-19 and perceived COVID-19 infectability. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to examine whether fear of COVID-19, perceived infectability, and the TPB constructs explained individuals' intention to get COVID-19 vaccinated. The SEM demonstrated satisfactory fit (comparative fit index = 0.970; Tucker-Lewis index = 0.962; root mean square error of approximation = 0.040; standardized root mean square residual = 0.050). Moreover, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm, attitude, and perceived COVID-19 infectability significantly explained individuals' intention to get COVID-19 vaccinated. Perceived COVID-19 infectability and TPB constructs were all significant mediators in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and intention to get COVID-19 vaccinated. Incorporating fear of COVID-19 and perceived COVID-19 infectability effectively into the TPB explained Iranians' intention to get COVID-19 vaccinated. Therefore, Iranians who have a strong belief in Muslim religion may improve their intention to get COVID-19 vaccinated via these constructs.

Perceptions of Infectability to Disease Moderate the Association between Daily Concerns about Contracting COVID-19 and Satisfaction with Sex.

The behavioral immune system is an evolved adaptation comprised of automatic behavioral, cognitive, and affective reactions that has allowed humans throughout evolutionary history to avoid situations that risk infection by pathogens (e.g., physical proximity to sick people). Although behavioral immune system activation may be functional by helping people avoid such situations, experiencing these automatic reactions during sexual interactions may undermine people's evaluations of those interactions because sex requires close physical contact. We examined whether two sources of behavioral immune system activation (daily concern over contracting COVID-19 and individual differences in infection concern) undermined satisfaction with sex among 318 partnered adults in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants reported individual differences in perceived infectability and then, every night for two weeks, reported their (a) daily concern about contracting COVID-19, (b) daily stress, (c) whether they had sex with their partner, and (d) their satisfaction with sex when it occurred. People's perceived infectability moderated the association between their daily concern about contracting COVID-19 and the extent to which they enjoyed sex when it occurred, such that people higher, but not lower, in perceived infectability enjoyed sex less on days that they were more worried about contracting COVID-19 than usual. This effect was not moderated by biological sex and remained significant when controlling for biological sex, age, relationship length, and frequency of sex. Results highlight the importance of the behavioral immune system to sexual functioning and suggest a novel avenue through which the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted relationships.

Behavioral immune system linked to responses to the threat of COVID-19.

People possess psychological processes that help them avoid pathogens, which is particularly important when novel infectious diseases (e.g., COVID-19) spread through the population. Across two studies we examined whether trait pathogen avoidance (operationalized as perceived vulnerability to disease; PVD) was linked with responses to COVID-19 and preventative behaviors. In Study 1, PVD was positively associated with stronger reactions to the threat of COVID-19, including increased anxiety, perceptions that people should alter their typical behavior, as well as reported importance of engaging in proactive and social distancing behaviors. In Study 2, PVD was again associated with increased anxiety, as well as more vigilant behavior when grocery shopping, fewer trips to the store, and fewer face-to-face interactions. These associations remained significant when controlling for the Big-5 personality traits. Although the two subscales of PVD (germ aversion and perceived infectability) were often parallel predictors, several differences between the subscales emerged. Germ aversion may be more associated with behaviors whereas perceived infectability with vigilance.