"Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader.

Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, N = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, N = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, N = 96; Study 3b, N = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader. We also found that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of anomie, except in the case of objective inequality in Study 1. This suggests that societal inequality enhances the perception that society is breaking down (anomie) and that a strong leader is needed to restore order (even when that leader is willing to challenge democratic values).

Epidemics among perceived impacts on Latvia before and during COVID-19: emerging threats versus stability.

BACKGROUND: In the time of global challenges, perception of the ongoing change at different levels of social systems modulates individual expectations, decisions, and emotional health. A previous study in Latvia revealed that perceived threats, globalization, political power, and personal control form the latent structure of perceived impacts on the country. The present study assessed the stability of this structure, comparing a relatively favorable situation and the situation of the COVID-19 emergency in Latvia. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: Two successive independent samples included 254 and 171 university students in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Participants assessed the impact of 15 factors on Latvia: personal impact, parents and relatives, friends, people of Latvia, political parties and leaders, Saeima (the parliament of Latvia), the government of Latvia, the European Union, the United States, other countries, global economic crises, war and military conflicts, terrorism, epidemics, and natural disasters. RESULTS: A series of confirmatory factor analyses established partial invariance of the model. During the COVID-19 emergency, a significant shift in the perceived impact of epidemics, natural disasters, and global economic crises combined with the relative stability of personal, meso-, and macro-level factors. CONCLUSIONS: This stability indicates possible resources for balancing perceived threats in the situation of successful coping with COVID-19 in Latvia in Spring 2020.

Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model.

Background: While COVID-19 has rapidly spread around the world, and vaccines are not widely available to the general population, the World Health Organization outlines preventive behavior as the most effective way to limit the rapid spread of the virus. Preventive behavior is associated with a number of factors that both encourage and discourage prevention. Aim: The aim of this research was to study COVID-19 threat appraisal, fear of COVID-19, trust in COVID-19 information sources, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and the relationship of socio-demographic variables (gender, age, level of education, place of residence, and employment status) to COVID-19 preventive behavior. Methods: The data originate from a national cross-sectional online survey (N = 2,608) undertaken in July 2020. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results: COVID-19 threat appraisal, trust in COVID-19 information sources, and fear of COVID-19 are all significant predictors of COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Together they explain 26.7% of the variance of this variable. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs significantly negatively predict COVID-19 threat appraisal (R 2 = 0.206) and trust in COVID-19 information sources (R 2 = 0.190). COVID-19 threat appraisal contributes significantly and directly to the explanation of the fear of COVID-19 (R 2 = 0.134). Directly, as well as mediated by COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, threat appraisal predicts trust in COVID-19 information sources (R 2 = 0.190). The relationship between COVID-19 threat appraisal and COVID-19 preventive behaviors is partially mediated by fear of COVID-19 (indirect effect 28.6%) and trust in information sources (15.8%). Socio-demographic variables add very little in prediction of COVID-19 preventive behavior. Conclusions: The study results demonstrate that COVID-19 threat appraisal is the most important factor associated with COVID-19 preventive behavior. Those Latvian residents with higher COVID-19 threat appraisal, experienced higher levels of fear of COVID-19, had more trust in COVID-19 information sources, and were more actively involved in following COVID-19 preventive behaviors. COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs negatively predict COVID-19 threat appraisal and trust in COVID-19 information sources, but not the COVID-19 preventive behaviors. Socio-demographic factors do not play an important role here.

Revisiting the Measurement of Anomie.

Sociologists coined the term "anomie" to describe societies that are characterized by disintegration and deregulation. Extending beyond conceptualizations of anomie that conflate the measurements of anomie as 'a state of society' and as a 'state of mind', we disentangle these conceptualizations and develop an analysis and measure of this phenomenon focusing on anomie as a perception of the 'state of society'. We propose that anomie encompasses two dimensions: a perceived breakdown in social fabric (i.e., disintegration as lack of trust and erosion of moral standards) and a perceived breakdown in leadership (i.e., deregulation as lack of legitimacy and effectiveness of leadership). Across six studies we present evidence for the validity of the new measure, the Perception of Anomie Scale (PAS). Studies 1a and 1b provide evidence for the proposed factor structure and internal consistency of PAS. Studies 2a-c provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, assessing PAS in 28 countries, we show that PAS correlates with national indicators of societal functioning and that PAS predicts national identification and well-being (Studies 3a & 3b). The broader implications of the anomie construct for the study of group processes are discussed.