Predictors of depressive symptoms among hospitalized COVID-19 patients with respiratory problems.

COVID-19 patients and survivors quite often experience depressive symptoms, which can increase risk for lower immune system response and poorer recovery. Vulnerability to depressive symptoms may be elevated in those patients who have the most severe COVID-19 course of illness, that is, patients who require supplementary oxygen therapy or even intubation. The current study involved a unique sample of patients who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 and who required respiratory support (N = 34, 10 women) in which we investigated depressive symptoms as well as psychopathological personality traits (PID5) as predictors. The majority of patients (76.5%) presented some degree of depressive symptoms. Although we expected severe levels of depressive symptoms to be most prevalent, more patients showed rather moderate levels. At the same time, Negative Affectivity was most predictive of depressive symptoms. We suggest that medical care for patients with greater emotional sensitivity and vulnerability to stress be supplemented with psychological support in order to address depressive symptoms and foster recovery.

Belief in the importance of socially responsible behaviors - the significance of trust and personal experiences with Covid-19.

A vast number of studies have shown that trust is related to socially desirable traits and behaviors. In the present research we have investigated the relationship between generalized trust and beliefs about the importance of socially responsible behaviors (SRB) during the pandemic - namely, following the sanitary regime and getting vaccinated. Basing on the previous findings we assumed that trustful people would be more convinced of the benefits of complying with the pandemic restrictions and getting vaccinated. The hypothesis stated that people with high levels of trust who had COVID-19 or whose close persons had been infected would be the most likely to believe in socially responsible behaviors. We recruited 405 people from the general population (age range 18-65) to participate in an online study conducted via a research platform. The analysis using linear regression has shown that people, whose close persons had suffered from COVID-19 were more inclined to believe in the importance of SRB. The level of trust also predicted the beliefs about the importance of socially responsible behaviors in mitigating the pandemic. Trust was positively related to SRB, except for people whose close persons had been infected with COVID-19. Regardless of the level of trust, people with such experience tended to assess SRB as important to combat the pandemic. These results have shed light on the importance of trust in developing the strategy of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cultural Influences on Social Information Processing: Hostile Attributions in the United States, Poland, and Japan.

Social information processing (SIP) theory suggests that attributions play a central role in influencing behavior in the course of social-relational exchanges. Within the SIP framework, social context has been shown to impact how social events are perceived. As a key feature of social context, culture likely plays a central role in shaping attributional processing. This study examined differences in hostile attributional patterns in three cultures with varying levels of collectivism, individualism, and power distance: Poland, United States, and Japan (N = 707). We used the Ambiguous Intentions and Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ) to compare attributional patterns across cultures. This measure uses five distinct vignettes to assess attributional responding within a range of interpersonal contexts. We examined whether the five-factor structure of the AIHQ maintained across these three cultures. Additionally, we investigated whether variations in attributional patterns occurred cross culturally in response to these ambivalent situations involving varying types of social relationships. Results confirmed acceptable patterns of measurement invariance across American, Japanese, and Polish samples and indicated that specific social-relational features in the vignettes significantly influenced attributional responding.

Prosocial sharing with organizations after the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal test of the role of motives for helping and time perspectives.

The time after the COVID-19 pandemic posed a threat to engagement in prosocial behaviors within charity organizations. In the current study, we intended to test how three motivational paths: affective empathy-based, life satisfaction-based, and perceived social support-based shaped the change in intentions to give money and time to charity organizations over a yearly period (right after revocation of the most essential anti-COVID-19 laws and at the same time, outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022, in May 2022 and after a year, in late April-early May 2023). We also tested how past negative and present hedonistic time perspectives-namely, those most robust in predicting emotional states - shaped the changes in the abovementioned motivational paths and giving intentions. We conducted our longitudinal study on the general population of Poland (N = 566). We found that there has been a significant drop in the willingness to give time to organizations over the year after loosening the COVID-19 restrictions and the outbreak of war in Ukraine. We found that affective empathy helped sustain the intentions to give time to organizations, whereas past negative time perspective contributed to the decrease in such intentions. Our study suggests threats to organizations and highlights potential ways to encourage supporting them and caring for their volunteers' well-being.

The importance of trust and altruistic social orientation for COVID-19 distress.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest global health crisis in decades, has been a difficult experience for nations all over the world. In the present study we wanted to assess to what extent a positive attitude towards others, expressed in altruistic social orientation and a high level of trust, would be linked to lower levels of COVID-19 distress in infected and non-infected individuals. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: A total 405 individuals (180 women, 44%), aged 18-60 (M = 38.91, SD = 11.02) participated in the study. Respondents were recruited by a research platform. The following questionnaires were completed: the Subjective Happiness Scale, Generalized Trust Scale, survey about COVID-19, social value orientations. RESULTS: The analysis showed that in non-infected high trustors the relationship between altruistic social orientation and COVID-19 distress was significant - the more they were willing to benefit others, the less distress they felt. The reverse effect was observed for infected high trustors - the more altruistic social orientation they expressed, the higher the level of COVID-19 distress they declared. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings shed some light on the importance of a positive attitude towards others in assessing the emotional outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also imply that people who have experienced the COVID-19 disease can suffer from distress differently than people who have not been affected.

Toward a better understanding of the health impairment process. Types of demand and burnout component matter.

The aim of the study was to better understand the health impairment process, postulated by Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. Previous studies on the process have not clearly explained which types of job demands (challenge vs. hindrance) lead to depression and which burnout component (exhaustion or disengagement from work) mediates job demands-depression link. The direct and indirect (mediated via exhaustion and disengagement from work) effects of challenge and hindrance stressors (included 6 different demands) on depression were investigated in this 1-year cross-lagged study. Data were collected among 752 social service workers in Poland. Structural equation modeling confirmed a slightly different effects of challenge and hindrance stressors (T1) on the two components of job burnout (T2) and depression (T2). Hindrance (but not challenge) stressors were related to high depression. Hindrance stressors intensified exhaustion and disengagement from work, while challenge stressors were only associated with high exhaustion. Exhaustion (but not disengagement from work) was related to depression. These findings support the mediation function of burnout in the health impairment process but only in relation to exhaustion. They also showed that the challenge-hindrance distinction is justified also in the JD-R model. The implications for theory and research on the mental health of employees, as well as for human management practice are discussed.

Elevating Subjective Well-Being Through Physical Exercises: An Intervention Study.

Background: Physical activity is associated with higher levels of subjective well-being. However, little research has been conducted in naturalistic conditions with a longitudinal design. In the current study, we aimed to examine whether regular activity initiation can impact happiness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem 4 weeks later. Methods: The sample (N = 217, 124 women) was divided into three groups based on level of physical activity (active people, beginners, and inactive people). The participants completed measures of happiness, satisfaction with life, self-esteem, and a survey on physical activity. Ninety-five of participants who completed the same set of measures sent by email after 4 weeks were included in the analyses. Results: The study showed a strong relationship between subjective well-being and physical activity. Active people showed higher levels of happiness and self-esteem compared to beginners and inactive people and a higher level of life satisfaction than inactive people. Furthermore, after 4 weeks of exercising, beginners revealed greater life satisfaction and happiness compared to the baseline. Conclusion: These findings confirm that regular physical activity leads to higher levels of well-being. It seems that even a short engagement in physical activity (4 weeks) may contribute to an increase in subjective well-being.

Effects of Rejection by a Friend for Someone Else on Emotions and Behavior.

Studies show that rejection increases negative affect and aggression and decreases helping behavior toward the excluder. Less is known about emotions and behavior after rejection by a friend for someone else. In two experimental studies (N = 101 and N = 169), we tested the predictions that rejection would feel worse in a close relationship but would result in less aggression and more reconnecting behavior, especially when the reasons for rejection were unknown. The results of Study 1 showed that, as expected, among acquaintances, more aggression was noted only after comparative rejection, but among strangers, aggression was also observed after rejection with no stated reason. Negative feelings toward a new acquaintance were only marginally stronger than those toward a stranger in Study 1, but Study 2 confirmed that rejection by a best friend, and especially comparative rejection by a friend, felt worse than other conditions. Study 2 also showed that reconnecting behavior was more likely to dominate over aggressive behavior between people in close relationships than between strangers. The results are discussed mostly in light of the multimotive model of rejection.