Social Climate and Psychological Response in the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Greek Academic Community

This study examines how the social climate was associated with the psychological response during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a structural equation model linking the economic crisis to the social climate (pandemic fear, social and psychological distress, civil protection, and population’s response) and to the psychological response (perspectives of life and reconsidering values), we tested their multivariate relationships in a Greek academic community sample. At the first level of the model, the economic crisis was significantly associated with the social climate: pandemic fear, social/psychological distress, and civil protection. At the second level, social/psychological distress was associated with the pandemic fear and civil protection, whereas the pandemic fear was associated with the population’s response to governmental measures. At the third level, civil protection was directly associated with the psychological response resilience variables: perspectives of life and reconsidering values. The model explained a significant amount of the variance in the population’s response (62%), reconsidering values (42%), and perspectives of life (32%). Moreover, women presented higher levels of social/psychological distress, pandemic fear, and perspectives of life. Finally, younger people were more affected by the social/psychological distress and pandemic fear, whereas older people presented higher levels in the population’s response to governmental measures.