How socio-institutional contexts and cultural worldviews relate to COVID-19 acceptance rates: A representative study in Italy.

RATIONALE: Despite its importance to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination has raised hesitation in large segments of the population. This hesitation makes it important to understand the mechanisms underlying vaccine acceptance. To this end, the study adopts the Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, holding that social behaviors - and therefore, vaccination acceptance - depend on the cultural meanings in terms of which people interpret the social world. OBJECTIVE: The study aims at estimating the impact a) of the way people interpret the socio-institutional context of the pandemic and b) of the underlying cultural worldviews on vaccine acceptance. More particularly, the study tested the three following hypotheses. a) The meanings grounding the interpretation of the socio-institutional framework - that is, trust in institutions and political values - are an antecedent of vaccination acceptance. b) The impact of these meanings is moderated by the cultural worldviews (operationalized as symbolic universes). And c), the magnitude of the symbolic universes' moderator effect depends on the uncertainty to which the respondent is exposed. The exposure to uncertainty was estimated in terms of socioeconomic status - the lower the status, the high the exposure to uncertainty. METHODS: An Italian representative sample (N = 3020) completed a questionnaire, measuring vaccination acceptance, the meanings attributed to the socio-institutional context - that is, political values and trust in institutions - and symbolic universes. RESULTS: The findings were consistent with the hypotheses. a) Structural equation modelling proved that vaccine acceptance was predicted by trust in institutions. b) Multigroup analysis revealed that symbolic universes moderated the correlation between trust in institutions and vaccine acceptance. And c), the moderation effect of symbolic universes proved to occur only in the segment of lower socio-economic status (i.e., the group exposed to higher uncertainty). CONCLUSIONS: Vaccination acceptance is not only a medical issue; it is also dependent upon the rationalization of the socio-institutional context. Implications for the promotion of vaccination acceptance are discussed.

A Cross-Cultural Study of Distress during COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Protective and Risk Factors.

Previous studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in different countries found an increase in anxiety, stress, and an exacerbation of previous mental health problems. This research investigated some of the protective and risk factors of distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, among which were the perception of receiving social support from family members and friends, and a chronic tendency to worry. The study was conducted in three European countries: Italy, Serbia, and Romania. A total of 1100 participants (Italy n = 491; Serbia n = 297; Romania n = 312) responded to a questionnaire. Results from this study show that distress during the COVID-19 pandemic is higher for people who are chronic worriers and those who have higher levels of fear of COVID-19. More specifically, it is confirmed that a chronic tendency to worry exacerbates the relationship between fear and distress: it is stronger for people who have a greater tendency to worry.

COVID-19 and prejudice against migrants: the mediating roles of need for cognitive closure and binding moral foundations. A comparative study.

What mitigates prejudice against migrants in situations of uncertainty? Addressing this question, we explored how individuals with greater COVID-19 concern perceive migrants as a greater threat and show prejudice against them, indirectly through the mechanism of need for cognitive closure and binding moral foundations.This study was conducted in two European countries: Malta and Italy. Six hundred and seventy-six individuals participated in this quantitative study (Malta: N = 204; Italy N = 472). Results from this study showed that the need for cognitive closure and binding moral foundations mediate the relationship between COVID-19 concern and prejudice against migrants in both countries. When testing the three binding moral foundations (loyalty, authority, and purity), the authority foundation seems to be the most consistent predictor.The implications of the findings contribute to theories about how situational uncertainty caused by COVID-19, together with the need for epistemic certainty and binding morality, contribute to increased prejudiced attitudes against migrants.

Local Norms and the Theory of Planned Behavior: Understanding the Effects of Spatial Proximity on Recycling Intentions and Self-Reported Behavior.

This paper aims to deepen the understanding of the role of "local norms" in explaining ecological behavior within Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior. A longitudinal investigation (overall N = 222), focused on households waste recycling, tested the hypothesis that the effects of this type of norms on behavioral intentions varies as a function of the individual's spatial proximity to the social categories relevant to the social-physical context (in this study: housemates, neighbors, inhabitants of the district or quarter, and inhabitants of the city) in which the behavior takes place. The hypothesis was confirmed and we also showed that the effects of local norms are empirically distinguishable from those of the social norms already considered by the model (i.e., subjective norms). Local norms, also have a direct influence on self-reported recycling behavior measured 1 month after intentions. We propose possible theoretical explanations for the results obtained and discuss the implications for applicative purposes.

Being prepared for acculturation: on the importance of the first months after immigrants enter a new culture.

We hypothesized that perceived communication effectiveness at arrival and initial friendships with members of the receiving society during the first months after arrival in a new country have a long-term effect on the development of acculturation orientations and that this effect is pronounced for individuals with a high need for cognitive closure (NCC). We examined the hypotheses in a study with Spanish-speaking immigrants in Switzerland (n = 146) and in Italy (n = 147). We asked participants to indicate their current attitude to contact with the receiving society and cultural maintenance and report retrospectively their perceived communication effectiveness at arrival and initial friendships. In line with the predictions, the perceptions of high communication effectiveness at arrival and friendships with members of the receiving society during the initial phase in the new culture were positively correlated with the current attitude to contact with the receiving society assessed 7 years after arrival on average. Also, initial friendships with members of the receiving society were negatively correlated with present cultural maintenance. Moreover, with an increase in NCC, these correlations increased.

Acculturation strategies, coping process and acculturative stress.

Using structural equation modeling, this study examines the influences of motivational factors (Need for Cognitive Closure--NCC--and Decisiveness), coping strategies and acculturation strategies on levels of acculturative stress. Two groups of immigrants in Rome (Croatians n= 156 and Poles n= 179) completed a questionnaire that included scales for the various factors. Although our initial hypothesized model was not confirmed, a modified model showed that the motivational factors of NCC and Decisiveness indirectly influence acculturative stress. The modified model with good fit indices indicated that the relationship between NCC and Decisiveness are mediated by coping strategies and acculturation strategies. Specifically, NCC is associated positively with avoidance coping, which in turn is negatively associated with the host group relationships and positively with the original culture maintenance. The last two dimensions predicted lower levels of acculturative stress. Decisiveness was positively associated with the problem-oriented coping and, negatively, with emotional and avoidance coping.

The social cognition of immigrants' acculturation: effects of the need for closure and the reference group at entry.

Three studies found support for the notion that immigrants' acculturation to the host culture is interactively determined by their need for cognitive closure (A. W. Kruglanski & D. M. Webster, 1996) and the reference group they forge on their arrival. If such reference group is fashioned by close social relations with coethnics, the higher the immigrants' need for closure, the weaker their tendency to assimilate to the new culture and the stronger their tendency to adhere to the culture of origin. By contrast, if the reference entry group is fashioned by close relations with members of the host country, the higher their need for closure, the stronger their tendency to adapt to the new culture and the weaker their tendency to maintain the culture of origin. These findings obtained consistently across 3 immigrant samples in Italy, 1 Croatian and 2 Polish, and across multiple different measures of acculturation.

Acculturation attitudes, need for cognitive closure, and adaptation of immigrants.

The author validated Berry's model of acculturation (J. W. Berry, 1990a, 1990b, 1991; J. W. Berry, U. Kim, S. Power, M. Young, & M. Bujaki, 1989) and examined the relation between acculturation attitudes and sociocultural and psychological adaptation among Croatian and Polish immigrants to Italy, 2 groups whose cultures are not very different from the Italian culture. Moreover, the author investigated the relation between the need for cognitive closure (NCC; M. D. Webster & A. W. Kruglanski, 1994) and psychological and sociocultural adaptation. The participants completed a questionnaire including measures of sociocultural adaptation, psychological adaptation, social relationships, acculturation attitudes, and NCC. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance revealed main effects of acculturation strategies for both forms of adaptation and a main effect of NCC for psychological adaptation. The Croatian and Polish immigrants differed in the level of sociocultural adaptation but not in the level of psychological adaptation.