Aligning personal and collective interests in emerging adults during the COVID-19 emergency in Italy

Sonia Ingoglia; Pasquale Musso; Cristiano Inguglia; Martyn Barrett; Harriet Tenenbaum; Rosalinda Cassibba; Paolo Albiero; Maria G Bartolo; Bethany Burns; Rossella Canale; Angela Costabile; Giuseppe Elia; Francesca Liga; Annalisa Palermiti; Maria C Pichardo; Rocco C Servidio; Valeria Verrastro; Nora Wiium; Alida Lo Coco

doi:10.1002/jcop.22766

Aligning personal and collective interests in emerging adults during the COVID-19 emergency in Italy

J Community Psychol. 2022 Jul;50(5):2177-2197. doi: 10.1002/jcop.22766. Epub 2021 Dec 4.

Authors

Sonia Ingoglia¹, Pasquale Musso², Cristiano Inguglia¹, Martyn Barrett³, Harriet Tenenbaum³, Rosalinda Cassibba², Paolo Albiero⁴, Maria G Bartolo⁵, Bethany Burns³, Rossella Canale¹, Angela Costabile⁵, Giuseppe Elia², Francesca Liga⁶, Annalisa Palermiti⁵, Maria C Pichardo⁷, Rocco C Servidio⁵, Valeria Verrastro⁸, Nora Wiium⁹, Alida Lo Coco¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Educational Science and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
² Department of Scienze della Formazione, Psicologia, Comunicazione, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
³ School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.
⁴ Department of Psicologia dello Sviluppo e della Socializzazione, University of Padua, Padova, Italy.
⁵ Department of Culture, Educazione e Società, University of Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Rende, Italy.
⁶ Department of Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, University of Messina, Messina, Italy.
⁷ Department of Psicologia Evolutiva y de la Educacion, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
⁸ Department of Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche, University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy.
⁹ Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

Abstract

This study investigated the relations of emerging adults' personal (civic competence and interdependent self-construal) and community-based (sense of community and civic engagement) resources as predictors of appraisal of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) and attitudes toward preventing contagion in Italy. Participants were 2873 Italian emerging adults (71% females) aged 19-30 years (M = 22.67, SD = 2.82). Structural equation modeling revealed both direct and indirect positive associations among study variables. Civic competence and interdependent self-construal were related to sense of community and civic engagement behavior which, in turn, predicted appraisal of PHEM. Appraisal of PHEM in turn predicted attitudes toward preventing contagion. Overall, findings highlight the importance of examining the alignment between personal and collective interests to understand emerging adults' evaluative and attitudinal experiences during a period of crisis, such as that created by COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Public Health Emergency Management; civic competence; civic engagement; interdependent self-construal.

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19*
Female
Humans
Italy
Male