The impact of emotion regulation and mental health difficulties on health behaviours during COVID19.

The COVID-19 outbreak is having a profound impact on individuals' psychological and physical wellbeing. The aim of this study was to assess the extent of this impact and its mechanisms on a sample of adults living in Italy during the first lockdown (April-May 2020). Two hundred ninety-two individuals (67.1% females) were recruited from the community through social media. They completed baseline online questionnaires to collect demographic information, data on past and present general health and health behaviours, and to assess emotion regulation strategies. Participants completed a brief survey to assess mood and health behaviours three times a week, for three weeks. Individuals with lifetime psychiatric disorders (about 50%) reported greater negative mood and use of unhealthy behaviours over time, compared to those with no psychiatric vulnerability. The use of cognitive reappraisal to regulate emotions was associated with greater resilience (i.e., feelings of hope and resourcefulness, and ability to seek social support and enjoyable activities). Cognitive reappraisal is a skill that can be trained and could be utilised to buffer the effect of general stress (i.e. stress caused by the pandemic) on individuals' wellbeing.

Internet Effects in Times of Political Crisis: Online Newsgathering and Attitudes toward the European Union.

This paper evaluates the influence of online news consumption on attitudes toward the European Union in a context of protracted economic crisis. Using data from the 2011 Irish National Election Study, we combine location-specific information on broadband availability with respondent geo-location data, which facilitates causal inference about the effects of online news consumption via instrumental variable models. Results show that Irish citizens who source political information online are more prone to blame the EU for the poor state of the economy than those who do not. There is evidence of preference reinforcement among those with negative predispositions toward the EU, but not among pro-EU citizens. We complement this analysis with a study of voting behavior in the European Fiscal Compact Referendum, employing a similar methodological approach. The results from this second survey confirm the anti-EU influence of online news consumption among Irish citizens, although evidence suggests a pro-EU effect among voters who browsed the website of the politically neutral Irish Referendum Commission. Our paper contributes to the literature on public opinion, the EU, and political attitudes in times of crisis.