Variation in Public Trust, Perceived Societal Fairness, and Well-Being before and after COVID-19 Onset-Evidence from the China Family Panel Studies

Chunli Wei; Qingqing Li; Ziyi Lian; Yijun Luo; Shiqing Song; Hong Chen

doi:10.3390/ijerph191912365

Variation in Public Trust, Perceived Societal Fairness, and Well-Being before and after COVID-19 Onset-Evidence from the China Family Panel Studies

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 28;19(19):12365. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912365.

Authors

Chunli Wei^{1

2}, Qingqing Li³, Ziyi Lian⁴, Yijun Luo⁴, Shiqing Song⁵, Hong Chen^{4

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Studies of Education and Psychology of Ethnic Minorities in Southwest China, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
² Psychological Development Guidance Center, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
³ School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China.
⁴ Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
⁵ School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality of Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
⁷ Chongqing Key Research Bases in Humanities and Social Sciences, Chongqing 400715, China.

Abstract

The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on all aspects of people's lives, including their attitudes toward society and psychological well-being. This study aimed to analyze the variation in public trust, perceived societal fairness, and well-being before and after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study used two-wave longitudinal data of 15,487 residents (2018, T1; 2020, T2) derived from the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS). A repeated measures analysis of variance showed that (a) public trust, perceived societal fairness, and subjective well-being significantly improved and (b) depression significantly increased. Linear regression analysis showed that education and socioeconomic status had a significant predictive effect on public trust, perceived societal fairness, and depression; socioeconomic status had a significant predictive effect on subjective well-being. This study provides evidence and direction for current social governance, namely, policy implementation and pandemic response.

Keywords: COVID-19; mental health; perceived societal fairness; public trust.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
China / epidemiology
Disease Outbreaks
Humans
Pandemics
Trust

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NO.32271087), Collaborative Innovation Team Project for Philosophy and Social Sciences in Chongqing Universities (NO.7110200530), and Key research topics on the theory and practice of ideological and political education for college students in Guangxi higher education institutions (NO.2020MSZ038).