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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Interpersonal space (IPS) is the area surrounding our own bodies in which we interact comfortably with other individuals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping larger IPS than usual, along with wearing a face mask, is one of the most effective measures to slow down the COVID-19 outbreak. Here, we explore the contribution of actual and perceived risk of contagion and anxiety levels in regulating our preferred social distance from other people during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. In this study, 1293 individuals from six Italian regions with different levels of actual risk of infection participated in an online survey assessing their perceived risk to be infected, level of anxiety and IPS. Two tasks were adopted as measures of interpersonal distance: the Interpersonal Visual Analogue Scale and a questionnaire evaluating interpersonal distance with and without face mask. The results showed that the IPS regulation was affected by how people subjectively perceived COVID-19 risk and the related level of anxiety, not by actual objective risk. This clarifies that the role of threat in prompting avoidant behaviors expressed in increased IPS does not merely reflect environmental events but rather how they are subjectively experienced and represented.

Details

Title
Social Distance during the COVID-19 Pandemic Reflects Perceived Rather Than Actual Risk
Author
Iachini, Tina 1 ; Frassinetti, Francesca 2 ; Ruotolo, Francesco 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Sbordone, Filomena Leonela 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Ferrara, Antonella 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Arioli, Maria 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Pazzaglia, Francesca 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Bosco, Andrea 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Candini, Michela 6   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Lopez, Antonella 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Caffò, Alessandro Oronzo 5   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Cattaneo, Zaira 7 ; Fornara, Ferdinando 8   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Ruggiero, Gennaro 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy; [email protected] (T.I.); [email protected] (F.L.S.); [email protected] (A.F.); [email protected] (G.R.) 
 Department of Psychology, Università di Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy; [email protected] (F.F.); [email protected] (M.C.); Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri-IRCCS di Castel Goffredo, Castel Goffredo, 46042 Mantova, Italy 
 Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy; [email protected] (M.A.); [email protected] (Z.C.) 
 Department of General Psychology, Università degli Studi di Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy; [email protected] 
 Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, 70121 Bari, Italy; [email protected] (A.B.); [email protected] (A.L.); [email protected] (A.O.C.) 
 Department of Psychology, Università di Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy; [email protected] (F.F.); [email protected] (M.C.) 
 Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy; [email protected] (M.A.); [email protected] (Z.C.); IRCCS Mondino Foundation, 27100 Pavia, Italy 
 Department of Education, Psychology, Philosophy, Università di Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy; [email protected] 
First page
5504
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
MDPI AG
ISSN
1661-7827
e-ISSN
1660-4601
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2539735922
Copyright
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.