Death anxiety, death reflection and interpersonal communication as predictors of social distance towards people infected with COVID 19

Petru Lucian Curșeu; Andra Diana Coman; Anton Panchenko; Oana Cătălina Fodor; Lucia Rațiu

doi:10.1007/s12144-020-01171-8

Death anxiety, death reflection and interpersonal communication as predictors of social distance towards people infected with COVID 19

Curr Psychol. 2023;42(2):1490-1503. doi: 10.1007/s12144-020-01171-8. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Authors

Petru Lucian Curșeu^{1

2}, Andra Diana Coman¹, Anton Panchenko¹, Oana Cătălina Fodor¹, Lucia Rațiu¹

Affiliations

¹ Psychology Department, Babeş - Bolyai University, 37 Republicii Street, 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
² Department of Organization, Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Our study investigates several antecedents and consequences of negative emotional reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic in a cross-national sample of 737 participants. Our results show that COVID-19 anxiety and negative mood are positively predicted by death anxiety and the use in communication of general COVID-19 information. Death reflection reduces negative mood in relation to COVID-19 and attenuates the positive association between death anxiety on the one hand and the negative mood and anxiety in relation to COVID-19 on the other hand. The use of humoristic information about COVID-19 reduces anxiety and social distance towards people infected with COVID-19 and also attenuates the positive association between the use in communication of general COVID-19 information and negative mood in relation to COVID-19. Our results also show that the association between death anxiety and social distance towards those infected with COVID-19 is mediated by anxiety and negative mood in relation to COVID-19. Finally, the association between the use of COVID-19 information in interpersonal communication and social distance is mediated by anxiety and negative mood in relation to COVID-19. The study thus reveals specific insights for tailored interventions to reduce negativity towards people infected with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Communication; Death anxiety; Discrimination; Humor; Social distance.