Social Axioms and Individual Values as Predictors of COVID-19 Fear among University Students from Countries with Different Government Strategies for Managing the Pandemic.

Background: Effective prevention of psychological trauma by fear of COVID-19 requires the study of the relationships between the psychological and contextual factors that can influence the level of this fear. The social axioms, individual values, and government strategies for managing the pandemic have not yet been studied as a system of psychological and contextual factors contributing to COVID-19 fear. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the level of COVID-19 fear and the characteristics of the relationships between the social axioms, individual values, and fear of COVID-19 among university students from countries with different government strategies for managing the pandemic. Design: University students from countries with different government strategies for managing the pandemic (208 Belarusians, 200 Kazakhstanis, and 250 Russians ages 18 to 25) participated in an anonymous online survey. The respondents filled in questionnaires that assessed their manifestations of COVID-19 fear (COVID-19 Fear Scale: FCV-19S) as the dependent variable; the "Social Axiom Questionnaire" (QSA-31) and the "Portrait Value Questionnaire" (ESS-21) measured the social axioms and individual values as the independent variables. Results: Fear of COVID-19 reached a higher level among the students from the countries with the weakest (Belarus) and the strongest (Kazakhstan) restrictive measures during the pandemic. Dysfunctional fear of COVID-19 was manifest among those Belarusian students who attached the greatest importance to self-enhancement values and the fate control axiom, and the least importance to the social complexity axiom, as well as among those Russian students for whom the religiosity social axiom was significant and the social complexity axiom was not. For Kazakhstani students, social axioms and values were not predictors of dysfunctional fear of COVID-19. Conclusion: The greatest contribution of social axioms and individual values to the experience of COVID-19 fear among the students was observed under conditions where the actions of the authorities were incompatible with the existing pandemic risks (in Belarus), as well as under conditions where a variable assessment of threat level was possible (in Russia).

Adherence to Covid-19 Appropriate Behavior among Adolescent Age Group

Background: Adolescent youngsters' adherence to COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) is essential to forestall and oversee Covid illness 19. The review planned to decide the pervasiveness and related variables of adherence to CAB in juvenile youngsters by applying Health Benefit Model (HBM) and summing up friendly convictions. Techniques: This is a hospital-based, cross-sectional review done between January 202 to June 2022. A pre-tied, organized, questioner-regulated device was utilized to gather information from 384 members. Information was gathered from Outpatients after acquiring informed assent. Results: The mean (SD) period of members was 16.3 (2.84) years. Around 56% of members were male. Adherence to all CAB means was 23%, it was not viewed as associated with age and orientation. The most widely recognized rehearsed CAB measure was face cover (64.2%) trailed by handwashing (56.71%). Conclusion: The adherence to CAB was low among young adolescents. It is critical to consider the wellbeing training, parenteral help, social maxims, seriousness, benefit, boundary, prompt to activity, pessimism and compensation for application to work on the adherence towards CAB.

Social Axioms and Fear of COVID-19: a Multigroup Analysis of the Relationship among Student Youth of the three Countries

Objective. In our study we implemented analysis of the COVID-19 fear, the hierarchy of social axioms and the equivalence of the relationships between fear of COVID-19 and social axioms among students-millennials, citizens of post-Soviet States with different strategies for dealing with the pandemic. Background. The risk of being traumatized by fear of COVID-19 requires monitoring of this fear manifestation among different socio-demographic groups. It is additionally important to identify the psychological factors that reduce fear. Study design. Empirical data were collected through the online survey from January 2021 to April 2021. The data were processed using Mann-Whitney U-criterion as well as multigroup structural equation modeling (MGSEM). Participants. Russian-speaking university students aged 18 to 25 participated in the study. They were citizens of Belarus (208 respondents, 25% men), Kazakhstan (200 respondents, 26% men) and Russia (250 respondents, 25% men). Measurements. The online questionnaire included the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-195), tested on the Russian-language sample by A. Reznik with colleagues, and the "Social Axiom Questionnaire" (QSA-31), developed and tested by A.N. Tatarko and N.M. Lebedeva. Moreover, the online questionnaire included questions about socio-demographic characteristics. Results. The study showed that the fear of COVID-19 is higher among Kazakhstanians and Belarusians than among Russians. Students of these countries have the same hierarchical structure of social axioms. Additionally they have the positive relationship of the COVID-19 fear to the social axiom "fate control" and the negative relationship of the COVID-19 fear to the social axiom "social complexity". Conclusions. Fear of COVID -19 is more prevalent among young people in countries with the weakest and most severe restrictive measures during the pandemic. Students-millennials are more focused on the axioms "reward for application" and "social complexity" than on the axioms "social cynicism", "religiosity" and "fate control". The belief in the complexity of the social world and the denial of total fate control over human life can be psychological resources of COVID-19 fear preventing among youth.

Problematic Smartphone Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Association with Pandemic-Related and Generalized Beliefs.

Smartphone technologies have played a crucial role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the increased use of smartphones during the pandemic period may expose the general public to a higher risk of problematic smartphone use (PSU). This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of PSU among Chinese community adults and adopted a social-cognitive theory and social axiom framework to evaluate the effects of beliefs on PSU. A Chinese adult sample (N = 616) was obtained through probability sampling via a telephone survey from Macao, China and included 591 smartphone users' data (39.4% men) for formal analysis. The prevalence of PSU was 43.3% in the overall sample, with 41.9% in women, and 45.5% in men. Two types of beliefs derived from the social-cognitive theory, pandemic-related self-efficacy and government efficacy, both showed significant and negative correlations with PSU (r = -0.13 and -0.10, p < 0.05). As for the two beliefs from the social axiom framework, reward for application was negatively correlated with PSU (r = -0.10, p < 0.05), whereas social cynicism was positively associated with PSU (r = 0.25, p < 0.001). Among those four beliefs, social cynicism exerted the most substantial effect on PSU when controlling for demographics. Our findings enriched the understanding of PSU during the pandemic and provided empirical direction regarding cognition-based intervention strategies for reducing PSU.

Fate control and ingroup bias in donation for the fight with the coronavirus pandemic: The mediating role of risk perception of COVID-19.

Ingroup bias could be a significant hindrance in a context where intergroup collaboration is crucial, which makes it essential to investigate ingroup bias during pandemics. This research investigated the influence of individuals' belief in fate control on ingroup bias in helping with COVID-19, and the mediating role of risk perception of COVID-19. To test our hypothesis, we analyzed the data from a community sample (n = 318) collected at the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. We found that fate control was positively associated with ingroup bias in donation to the patients with COVID-19 and the frontline healthcare professionals. Moreover, the mediating role of risk perception of COVID-19 was significant. A higher level of fate control was associated with higher risk perception of COVID-19, which was, in turn, related to stronger ingroup bias in donation across individuals. These findings highlight the substantial role of general worldview in shaping individuals' responses to pandemics.

Adherence to COVID-19 Precautionary Measures: Applying the Health Belief Model and Generalised Social Beliefs to a Probability Community Sample.

BACKGROUND: In the face of the global pandemic of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), people's adherence to precautionary behavioral measures (e.g. social distancing) largely influences the effectiveness of those measures in containing the spread of the coronavirus. The present study aims at testing the applicability of the health belief model (HBM) and generalised social beliefs (i.e. social axioms) to explore strategies for promoting adherence to COVID-19 precautionary measures. METHODS: We conducted a telephone survey with a two-step stratified random sampling method and obtained a probability sample of 616 adults in Macao, China (18-87 years old; 60.9% women) in April 2020. RESULTS: Our participants showed stronger adherence to some COVID-19 precautionary measures (e.g. face mask wearing; 96.4%) but not others (e.g. social distancing; 42.3%). Their adherence to those measures was found to be significantly associated with four HBM factors and two social axioms, after controlling for gender, age, and years of education. CONCLUSIONS: The HBM and the generalised social beliefs of social cynicism and reward for application can be applied to understanding adherence to precautionary measures against COVID-19. Strategies based on beliefs were proposed to facilitate the promotion of precautionary measures.