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Concern with COVID-19 pandemic threat and attitudes towards immigrants: The mediating effect of the desire for tightness

Mula S 1 , Di Santo D 1 , Resta E 1 , Bakhtiari F 2 , Baldner C 1 , Molinario E 3 Show all authors , Pierro A 1 , Gelfand MJ 4 , Denison E 4 , Agostini M 5 , Bélanger JJ 6 , Gützkow B 5 , Kreienkamp J 5 , Abakoumkin G 7 , Abdul Khaiyom JH 8 , Ahmedi V 9 , Akkas H 10 , Almenara CA 11 , Atta M 12 , Bagci SC 13 , Basel S 6 , Kida EB 9 , Bernardo ABI 14 , Buttrick NR 15 , Chobthamkit P 16 , Choi HS 17 , Cristea M 18 , Csaba S 19 , Damnjanovic K 20 , Danyliuk I 21 , Dash A 22 , Douglas KM 23 , Enea V 24 , Faller DG 6 , Fitzsimons GJ 25 , Gheorghiu A 24 , Gómez Á 26 , Hamaidia A 27 , Han Q 28 , Helmy M 29 , Hudiyana J 30 , Jeronimus BF 5 , Jiang DY 31 , Jovanović V 32 , Kamenov Ž 33 , Kende A 19 , Keng SL 34 , Kieu TTT 35 , Koc Y 5 , Kovyazina K 36 , Kozytska I 21 , Krause J 5 , Kruglanski AW 4 , Kurapov A 21 , Kutlaca M 37 , Lantos NA 19 , Lemay EP 4 , Lesmana CBJ 38 , Louis WR 39 , Lueders A 40 , Malik NI 12 , Martinez A 41 , McCabe KO 42 , Mehulić J 33 , Milla MN 30 , Mohammed I 43 , Moyano M 44 , Muhammad H 45 , Muluk H 30 , Myroniuk S 5 , Najafi R 46 , Nisa CF 6 , Nyúl B 19 , O'Keefe PA 34 , Olivas Osuna JJ 47 , Osin EN 48 , Park J 49 , Pica G 50 , Rees JH 51 , Reitsema AM 5 , Rullo M 52 , Ryan MK 5 , Samekin A 53 , Santtila P 54 , Sasin E 6 , Schumpe BM 55 , Selim HA 56 , Stanton MV 57 , Stroebe W 5 , Sultana S 5 , Sutton RM 23 , Tseliou E 7 , Utsugi A 58 , van Breen JA 59 , van Lissa CJ 60 , Van Veen K 5 , vanDellen MR 61 , Vázquez A 26 , Wollast R 62 , Yeung VW 63 , Zand S 64 , Žeželj IL 20 , Zheng B 65 , Zick A 66 , Zúñiga C 67 , Leander NP 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
  • 2 California State University, Fresno
  • 3 Florida Gulf Coast University
  • 4 University of Maryland, College Park, USA
  • 5 University of Groningen
  • 6 New York University Abu Dhabi
  • 7 University of Thessaly
  • 8 International Islamic University Malaysia
  • 9 Pristine University
  • 10 Ankara Science University
  • 11 Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas
  • 12 University of Sargodha
  • 13 Sabanci University
  • 14 De La Salle University
  • 15 University of Virginia
  • 16 Thammasat University
  • 17 Sungkyunkwan University
  • 18 Heriot Watt University
  • 19 ELTE Eötvös Loránd University
  • 20 University of Belgrade
  • 21 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
  • 22 Leuphana University of Luneburg
  • 23 University of Kent
  • 24 Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi
  • 25 Duke University
  • 26 Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
  • 27 Setif 2 University
  • 28 University of Bristol
  • 29 Menoufia University
  • 30 Universitas Indonesia
  • 31 National Chung-Cheng University
  • 32 University of Novi Sad
  • 33 University of Zagreb
  • 34 Yale-NUS College
  • 35 HCMC University of Education
  • 36 Indipendent researcher, Kazakhstan
  • 37 Durham University
  • 38 Udayana University
  • 39 University of Queensland
  • 40 University of Limerick
  • 41 University of Sheffield
  • 42 Carleton University
  • 43 Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto
  • 44 University of Cordoba
  • 45 University of Peshawar
  • 46 Islamic Azad University, Rasht Branch
  • 47 National Distance Education University (UNED)
  • 48 National Research University Higher School of Economics
  • 49 NUCB Business School
  • 50 University of Camerino (UNICAM)
  • 51 University of Bielefeld
  • 52 University of Siena
  • 53 M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University
  • 54 New York University Shanghai
  • 55 University of Amsterdam
  • 56 King Saud University
  • 57 California State University, East Bay
  • 58 Nagoya University
  • 59 Leiden University
  • 60 Utrecht University
  • 61 University of Georgia
  • 62 Université Clermont-Auvergne
  • 63 Lingnan University
  • 64 University of Milano-Bicocca
  • 65 Imperial College London
  • 66 Bielefeld University
  • 67 Universidad de Chile
Curr Res Ecol Soc Psychol, 2022;3:100028.
PMID: 35098189 DOI: 10.1016/j.cresp.2021.100028

Abstract

Tightening social norms is thought to be adaptive for dealing with collective threat yet it may have negative consequences for increasing prejudice. The present research investigated the role of desire for cultural tightness, triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, in increasing negative attitudes towards immigrants. We used participant-level data from 41 countries (N = 55,015) collected as part of the PsyCorona project, a cross-national longitudinal study on responses to COVID-19. Our predictions were tested through multilevel and SEM models, treating participants as nested within countries. Results showed that people's concern with COVID-19 threat was related to greater desire for tightness which, in turn, was linked to more negative attitudes towards immigrants. These findings were followed up with a longitudinal model (N = 2,349) which also showed that people's heightened concern with COVID-19 in an earlier stage of the pandemic was associated with an increase in their desire for tightness and negative attitudes towards immigrants later in time. Our findings offer insight into the trade-offs that tightening social norms under collective threat has for human groups.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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