Adverse Effects from the Imposition of Social Restrictions in Greece: the Indirect Effect of COVID-19-Related Fear on Alcohol Consumption Through Loneliness

Predictors of pretraumatic stress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

BACKGROUND

Pretraumatic stress has the same symptoms as post-traumatic stress but instead pertains to anticipated threats. There is evidence that pretraumatic stress occurs among soldiers and pregnant people.

OBJECTIVE

We analyzed correlates of pretraumatic stress concerning the threat of COVID-19 infection.

METHOD

Our pilot study was cross-sectional (N = 74); our main study was longitudinal and consisted of three waves (N = 1067, N = 894, and N = 752 for Waves 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Our pilot study used correlation and multiple linear regression. Our main study used quadratic regression and a random intercept cross-lagged panel model.

RESULTS

The pilot study found that pretraumatic stress was positively correlated with agreeableness (r = .24, p < .01) and negatively correlated with emotional stability (r = -.30, p < .01) and intellect/imagination (r = -.37, p < .01). The main study demonstrated that pretraumatic stress was positively correlated with other measures of mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and with perceived positive aspects of the pandemic (r = .11, p < .01). There is evidence of a U-shaped relationship between pretraumatic stress and perceived positive aspects of the pandemic. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model analysis demonstrated that pretraumatic stress in Wave 2 was negatively predicted by levels of prosocial behavior in Wave 1 (B = -1.130, p < .01).

CONCLUSION

Mental health professionals should take into account pretraumatic stress, not only as a possible consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak but more generally as a risk in situations that are new, difficult, and challenging for people.

Consumer loneliness: A systematic review and research agenda

Treading on the heels of the spread of the coronavirus, the "loneliness virus" has been capturing territories globally. Consumers are not immune to loneliness. Although academics and the general public have recognized the devastating effects of loneliness, the academic attention given to consumer loneliness (CL) is scattered and fragmentary. The purpose of this article is to systematically review the antecedents (predictors and alleviators) and consequences (consumer behaviors, emotions, preferences, attitudes, and cognition) of CL in various consumption contexts. This review also presents findings on CL as a mediator and moderator in consumer studies. This work adds to the growing body of CL literature by synthesizing the existing findings and knowledge. More importantly, we present a future research agenda by linking CL to significant research lines and detailed implications for practitioners in the marketplace.

Children’s Social Representations of This Invisible and Never Previously Known COVID-19 Virus

Children are the forgotten group as they have been excluded from examining how they understand information about COVID-19. This study examined how children in Greece represent the COVID-19 virus. The drawing method was used as a process of meaning construction combining subjective experiences with socio-cultural meanings. Thirty-four children aged 4 to 6 years old (M = 5.4) were asked to draw a picture of the COVID-19 virus and explain their drawings verbally. This study used participant-created drawings to assess how children represent the COVID-19 virus and reports that drawing is an effective method of examining children’s social representations. Methodologically, by using drawing, this study reveals layers of social representations that may be difficult to put into words. Three distinct themes, namely “scientific” knowledge of the virus, the COVID-19 virus as the enemy, and the confinement situation, were identified in the children’s visualizations and verbalizations constituting children’s social representations of COVID-19. This study’s results show that social representations give meaning to a novel reality and allow the participating children to direct themselves as regards this novel reality.