In COVID-19 Health Messaging, Loss Framing Increases Anxiety with Little-to-No Concomitant Benefits: Experimental Evidence from 84 Countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in terms of potential losses (e.g., "If you do not practice these steps, you can endanger yourself and others") or potential gains (e.g., "If you practice these steps, you can protect yourself and others")? Collecting data in 48 languages from 15,929 participants in 84 countries, we experimentally tested the effects of message framing on COVID-19-related judgments, intentions, and feelings. Loss- (vs. gain-) framed messages increased self-reported anxiety among participants cross-nationally with little-to-no impact on policy attitudes, behavioral intentions, or information seeking relevant to pandemic risks. These results were consistent across 84 countries, three variations of the message framing wording, and 560 data processing and analytic choices. Thus, results provide an empirical answer to a global communication question and highlight the emotional toll of loss-framed messages. Critically, this work demonstrates the importance of considering unintended affective consequences when evaluating nudge-style interventions.

The strength of pursuing your values: Valued living as a path to resilience among college students.

Although stressful life events (SLEs) frequently relate to negative outcomes, many individuals demonstrate resilience by positively adapting to stressors without significant impairment. Valued living, a key process in the theory underpinning acceptance and commitment therapy is a response style characterized by daily purposeful actions that are linked to important values and may promote resilience in college students. This study examined the main and interactive effects of SLEs and valued living in the prediction of a multidimensional measure of resilience. Results supported a strong positive relationship between resilience and valued living. Further, valued living moderated the association between SLE negative impact scores and resilience (but not the association between cumulative prior year SLEs and resilience). Although SLE negative impact scores were negatively associated with resilience at lower levels of valued living, there was no demonstrated relationship at higher levels of valued living. Implications related to promoting valued living among college students in the service of increasing resilience are discussed.