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Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat

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  • Christopher R Gustafson
  • Kathleen R Brooks
  • Syed Imran Ali Meerza
  • Amalia Yiannaka

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, like other crises, has had direct and indirect impacts on individuals, many of which have been negative. While a large body of research has examined the impacts of COVID-19 on people’s lives, there is little evidence about how COVID-19 affects decision-making broadly. Emotional responses to COVID-19-related stressors, such as illness and income loss, provide a pathway for these stressors to affect decision-making. In this study, we examine linkages between exposure to COVID-19-related stressors—focusing on temporally specific local case counts and loss of income due to the pandemic—and decisions to access information about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), another critically important health issue. COVID-19 constitutes a natural experiment in that people’s exposure to stressors does not result from those individuals’ current decisions. Using a nationally representative survey with 1223 respondents in December 2020, we linked the temporally specific COVID-19 cases and income loss experienced by participants to an increased likelihood of feeling hopeless. Higher feelings of hopelessness led to a higher probability of avoiding information about AMR. A mediation analysis confirms that emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors significantly increase information avoidance about an unrelated, but important health issue. Our results suggest that large-scale crises, like COVID-19 and climate change, may diminish action on other important health issues facing humanity.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher R Gustafson & Kathleen R Brooks & Syed Imran Ali Meerza & Amalia Yiannaka, 2023. "Emotional responses to COVID-19 stressors increase information avoidance about an important unrelated health threat," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(9), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0286712
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286712
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