Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat.
The COVID-19 pandemic, like other crises, has had direct and indirect impacts on individuals, many of which have been negative. While a large body of research has examined the impacts of COVID-19 on people's lives, there is little evidence about how COVID-19 affects decision-making broadly. Emo...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286712 |
| _version_ | 1797679391967281152 |
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| author | Christopher R Gustafson Kathleen R Brooks Syed Imran Ali Meerza Amalia Yiannaka |
| author_facet | Christopher R Gustafson Kathleen R Brooks Syed Imran Ali Meerza Amalia Yiannaka |
| author_sort | Christopher R Gustafson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic, like other crises, has had direct and indirect impacts on individuals, many of which have been negative. While a large body of research has examined the impacts of COVID-19 on people's lives, there is little evidence about how COVID-19 affects decision-making broadly. Emotional responses to COVID-19-related stressors, such as illness and income loss, provide a pathway for these stressors to affect decision-making. In this study, we examine linkages between exposure to COVID-19-related stressors-focusing on temporally specific local case counts and loss of income due to the pandemic-and decisions to access information about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), another critically important health issue. COVID-19 constitutes a natural experiment in that people's exposure to stressors does not result from those individuals' current decisions. Using a nationally representative survey with 1223 respondents in December 2020, we linked the temporally specific COVID-19 cases and income loss experienced by participants to an increased likelihood of feeling hopeless. Higher feelings of hopelessness led to a higher probability of avoiding information about AMR. A mediation analysis confirms that emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors significantly increase information avoidance about an unrelated, but important health issue. Our results suggest that large-scale crises, like COVID-19 and climate change, may diminish action on other important health issues facing humanity. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:13:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e178950a94cc4d30ac54028b1beba580 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:13:56Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-e178950a94cc4d30ac54028b1beba5802023-09-21T05:32:34ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01189e028671210.1371/journal.pone.0286712Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat.Christopher R GustafsonKathleen R BrooksSyed Imran Ali MeerzaAmalia YiannakaThe COVID-19 pandemic, like other crises, has had direct and indirect impacts on individuals, many of which have been negative. While a large body of research has examined the impacts of COVID-19 on people's lives, there is little evidence about how COVID-19 affects decision-making broadly. Emotional responses to COVID-19-related stressors, such as illness and income loss, provide a pathway for these stressors to affect decision-making. In this study, we examine linkages between exposure to COVID-19-related stressors-focusing on temporally specific local case counts and loss of income due to the pandemic-and decisions to access information about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), another critically important health issue. COVID-19 constitutes a natural experiment in that people's exposure to stressors does not result from those individuals' current decisions. Using a nationally representative survey with 1223 respondents in December 2020, we linked the temporally specific COVID-19 cases and income loss experienced by participants to an increased likelihood of feeling hopeless. Higher feelings of hopelessness led to a higher probability of avoiding information about AMR. A mediation analysis confirms that emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors significantly increase information avoidance about an unrelated, but important health issue. Our results suggest that large-scale crises, like COVID-19 and climate change, may diminish action on other important health issues facing humanity.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286712 |
| spellingShingle | Christopher R Gustafson Kathleen R Brooks Syed Imran Ali Meerza Amalia Yiannaka Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat. PLoS ONE |
| title | Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat. |
| title_full | Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat. |
| title_fullStr | Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat. |
| title_short | Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat. |
| title_sort | emotional responses to covid 19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286712 |
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