School of Behavioral Sciences, Peres Academic Center, Rehovot, Israel.
Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Br J Clin Psychol. 2021 Jun;60(2):133-148. doi: 10.1111/bjc.12285. Epub 2021 Feb 23.
The COVID-19 epidemic is affecting the entire world and hence provides an opportunity examine how people from different countries engage in hopeful thinking. The aim of this study was to examine the potentially facilitating role of perceived social support vis-à-vis hope as well as the mediating role of loneliness between perceived social support and hope. This mediating model was tested concurrently in the UK, the USA, and Israel.
In April 2020, as the first wave of the virus struck the three aforementioned countries, we assessed perceived social support, loneliness, and hope in 400 adults per country (N = 1,200). Assessments in the UK/USA were conducted via the Prolific platform, whereas in Israel they were conducted via Facebook/WhatsApp.
In all three countries, perceived social support predicted elevated hope, although the effect was smallest in the UK. Loneliness mediated this effect in all three countries, although full mediation was attained only in the UK.
Perceived social support may facilitate hope in dire times, possibly through the reduction of loneliness.
Findings are consistent with respect to the potentially protective role of perceived social support vis-à-vis hope. Perceived social support may increase hope through decreasing loneliness. In the UK, the above-noted mediating effect of loneliness appears to be stronger than in Israel and the USA. Elevated levels of perceived social support should serve as a desired outcome in individual and group psychotherapy, as well as in community based interventions.
新冠疫情正在影响全球，因此为我们提供了一个机会，以观察来自不同国家的人如何进行乐观思考。本研究旨在检验感知社会支持对希望的潜在促进作用，以及孤独感在感知社会支持与希望之间的中介作用。在英国、美国和以色列同时检验了这一中介模型。
在 2020 年 4 月，当病毒在上述三个国家的第一波袭击时，我们评估了每个国家的 400 名成年人的感知社会支持、孤独感和希望（N=1200）。英国/美国的评估是通过 Prolific 平台进行的，而在以色列则是通过 Facebook/WhatsApp 进行的。
在所有三个国家，感知社会支持均预测了希望的提升，尽管在英国的效果最小。孤独感在所有三个国家中均中介了这一效应，但仅在英国实现了完全中介。
在困难时期，感知社会支持可能通过减少孤独感来促进希望。
研究结果在感知社会支持对希望的潜在保护作用方面是一致的。感知社会支持可能通过减少孤独感来增加希望。在英国，孤独感的上述中介效应似乎比在以色列和美国更强。提高感知社会支持的水平应该成为个体和团体心理治疗以及社区干预的理想目标。
