Positivity explains how COVID-19 perceived risk increases death distress and reduces happiness

Murat Yıldırım; Abdurrahim Güler

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110347

Positivity explains how COVID-19 perceived risk increases death distress and reduces happiness

Pers Individ Dif. 2021 Jan 1:168:110347. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110347. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

Authors

Murat Yıldırım^{1

2}, Abdurrahim Güler³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Letters, Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, Agri, Turkey.
² Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
³ Department of Sociology, Faculty of Science and Letters, Agri Ibrahim Cecen University, Agri, Turkey.

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has produced an unprecedented impact on all aspects of life, including mental outcomes like death distress. This study examined the mediating effect of positivity on the association between COVID-19 related perceived risk, death distress, and happiness. Participants were 3109 Turkish adults (Mean _age = 38.64 ± 10.40) who completed online measures of perceived risk, positivity, death distress, and happiness during the pandemic. Results showed that perceived risk had a significant direct effect on positivity, death distress, and happiness. Positivity had a significant direct effect on death distress and happiness. Mediation analysis indicated that positivity mediated the effect of perceived risk on death distress and happiness. Results suggest that positivity is an important aspect of developing strength-based preventions and interventions aiming to reduce psychological distress and improve happiness.

Keywords: COVID-19, COVID-19 related perceived risk; Death distress; Happiness; Positivity.