Factors Related to COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors: A Structural Equation Model.

While COVID-19 has rapidly spread around the world, and vaccines are not widely available to the general population, the World Health Organization outlines preventive behavior as the most effective way to limit the rapid spread of the virus. Preventive behavior is associated with a number of factors that both encourage and discourage prevention. The aim of this research was to study COVID-19 threat appraisal, fear of COVID-19, trust in COVID-19 information sources, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and the relationship of socio-demographic variables (gender, age, level of education, place of residence, and employment status) to COVID-19 preventive behavior.

Epidemics among perceived impacts on Latvia before and during COVID-19: emerging threats versus stability.

Background: In the time of global challenges, perception of the ongoing change at different levels of social systems modulates individual expectations, decisions, and emotional health. A previous study in Latvia revealed that perceived threats, globalization, political power, and personal control form the latent structure of perceived impacts on the country. The present study assessed the stability of this structure, comparing a relatively favorable situation and the situation of the COVID-19 emergency in Latvia.

"Our Country Needs a Strong Leader Right Now": Economic Inequality Enhances the Wish for a Strong Leader.

Societal inequality has been found to harm the mental and physical health of its members and undermine overall social cohesion. Here, we tested the hypothesis that economic inequality is associated with a wish for a strong leader in a study involving 28 countries from five continents (Study 1, = 6,112), a study involving an Australian community sample (Study 2, = 515), and two experiments (Study 3a, = 96; Study 3b, = 296). We found correlational (Studies 1 and 2) and experimental (Studies 3a and 3b) evidence for our prediction that higher inequality enhances the wish for a strong leader.

Revisiting the Measurement of Anomie.

Sociologists coined the term "anomie" to describe societies that are characterized by disintegration and deregulation. Extending beyond conceptualizations of anomie that conflate the measurements of anomie as 'a state of society' and as a 'state of mind', we disentangle these conceptualizations and develop an analysis and measure of this phenomenon focusing on anomie as a perception of the 'state of society'. We propose that anomie encompasses two dimensions: a perceived breakdown in social fabric (i.