The effects of secondary stressors, social identity, and social support on perceived stress and resilience: Findings from the COVID-19 pandemic

Evangelos Ntontis; Angélique M Blackburn; Hyemin Han; Sabrina Stöckli; Taciano L Milfont; Jarno Tuominen; Siobhán M Griffin; Gözde Ikizer; Alma Jeftic; Stavroula Chrona; Aishath Nasheedha; Liudmila Liutsko; Sara Vestergren

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102007

The effects of secondary stressors, social identity, and social support on perceived stress and resilience: Findings from the COVID-19 pandemic

J Environ Psychol. 2023 Jun:88:102007. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102007. Epub 2023 Apr 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychology and Counselling, The Open University, United Kingdom.
² Department of Psychology and Communication, Texas A&M International University, USA.
³ Educational Psychology Program, University of Alabama, USA.
⁴ Department of Consumer Behavior, University of Bern, Switzerland.
⁵ Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
⁶ School of Psychology, University of Waikato, New Zealand.
⁷ Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Finland.
⁸ Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, Ireland.
⁹ Department of Psychology, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Turkey.
¹⁰ Peace Research Institute, International Christian University, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Politics, School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, United Kingdom.
¹² Villa College, Maldives.
¹³ The Barcelona Institute for Global Health, ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain.
¹⁴ Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Psychology, Moscow, Russia.
¹⁵ School of Psychology, Keele University, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Primary stressors are direct outcomes of extreme events (e.g., viruses, floodwater) whereas secondary stressors stem from pre-disaster life circumstances and societal arrangements (e.g., illness, problematic pre-disaster policies) or from inefficient responses to the extreme event. Secondary stressors can cause significant long-term damage to people affected but are also tractable and amenable to change. In this study we explored the association between secondary stressors, social identity processes, social support, and perceived stress and resilience. Pre-registered analyses of data from the COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey Round II (N = 14,600; 43 countries) show that secondary stressors are positively associated with perceived stress and negatively associated with resilience, even when controlling for the effects of primary stressors. Being a woman or having lower socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with higher exposure to secondary stressors, higher perceived stress, and lower resilience. Importantly, social identification is positively associated with expected support and with increased resilience and lower perceived stress. However, neither gender, SES, or social identification moderated the relationship between secondary stressors and perceived stress and resilience. In conclusion, systemic reforms and the availability of social support are paramount to reducing the effects of secondary stressors.

Keywords: COVID-19; Primary stressors; Resilience; Secondary stressors; Social identity; Social support; Stress.