Embitterment in the General Population after Nine Months of COVID-19 Pandemic

Wisdom affinity in the general population

BACKGROUND

Wisdom is an important coping resource for difficult and ambiguous life situations. Wisdom trainings have been developed in clinical and non-clinical settings. What has been missing so far are representative data on wisdom affinity from the general population. These are important regarding needs assessments and identification of risk groups with low wisdom affinity and potential problems in coping with difficult and ambiguous life situations.

METHOD

The study examined a population-representative sample of 2509 persons. Socio-demographic data, presence of chronic and mental illnesses was assessed, and wisdom attitudes by the 12-WD Wisdom Scale. The surveys were carried out by means of interviews and self-report questionnaires at the respondents' homes, done by an experienced social research company (USUMA GmbH).

RESULTS

Only 6% of the whole sample appeared to be highly wisdom-affirmative (12-WD mean score 10 on scale 0-10), whereas 4% may appear low wisdom-affirm, due to very low agreement (12 WD mean score 0-4). Most of the moderately wisdom-affirm people had a religious denomination (70.9%), whereas only 57-59% of the high or low wisdom-affirm persons reported religious affiliations. Low wisdom-affirm were most often chronically ill (25%), with mental or physical illness in similar frequency, and had significantly more unemployment times than persons with higher wisdom scores. Wisdom affinity was independent from age, gender and age, household situation, and higher school education.

CONCLUSION

It must be assumed that people with socio-medical risk factors also have impairments in their wisdom-related problem-solving strategies, and that these can be of interest for transdiagnostic wisdom trainings in prevention or rehabilitation, which has shown positive effects.

Brief Report: Protective or Risk Factor? Aftermath Effects of Perceived Social Support on Embitterment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

There are indications for a raise in embitterment during the COVID-19 pandemic. As embitterment is related to felt social exclusion, pessimism, and a proneness toward COVID-19-related conspiracy beliefs, embitterment may be a key factor to consider in the current pandemic. However, perceived social support (PSS), which is associated with hope during the COVID-19 pandemic could serve as an important resilience factor for bitterness. We therefore investigated the effects of PSS on embitterment in aftermath of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. 52 individuals participated in our follow-up online study in October 2020 (T1) and May 2021 (T2). Embitterment (measured with the Berne Embitterment Inventory) and PSS were repeatedly assessed at T1 and T2. A double moderation analysis was conducted, using the PROCESS macro to examine the effects of embitterment, PSS, and age on embitterment 6 months later. The results suggest that the prediction of embitterment at T2 by embitterment at T1 was altered by changes in PSS. Here, in particular participants with high embitterment at T1 and a gain in PSS had higher embitterment scores at T2, whereas participants with low embitterment were found to have lower embitterment scores. This interaction effect was further influenced by the age of the participants, where the effects were more pronounced among middle-aged participants than younger participants. As embittered individuals seem to grow in bitterness with a gain in PSS, support is found for the notion that embittered individuals seeking allies supporting their mindset.

Embitterment during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Reaction to Injustice, Humiliation, and Breach of Trust

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had an impact on the health of many people, but also on politics, the economy, and everyday life at large. It has been shown that some people respond with anxiety and depression, which is not surprising. Another reaction in the context of COVID-19 is embittered fights and disruptions between family members, friends, and neighbors, but also problems on a societal and political level, mutual public insults, political demonstrations, and even aggressive outbursts with a high number of participants. This calls for a separate explanation. One trigger may be embitterment, an emotion known to anybody in reaction to injustice, humiliation, and breach of trust, in association with helplessness. It comes along with a nagging desire to fight back and is usually accompanied by aggressive fantasies and combatively impulses towards the wrongdoer. This emotion also spreads indiscriminately to other people and the world. There are few initial studies which show that there is a significant increase in the rate of embitterment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased embitterment was related to financial losses, concern about restricted societal freedom, job insecurity, oppositional attitudes, helplessness, dissatisfaction with life, and inclination to join anti-COVID-19 demonstrations. These findings suggest that it is important to foster resilience against stressors, be it because of the virus itself, restrictions in daily freedom, negative comments by other persons, or imbalanced press releases. Of importance is also to abstain from insulting comments towards people who do not follow the mainstream, to allow adjustment of rules to given situations, and to take people along by listening to their grievances, instead of leaving demonstrations on the street as the only method to voice concerns.