University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Jul 2;21(1):1296. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-11270-1.
The outbreak and global spread of COVID-19 was accompanied by an increase in reports of stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people. The behavioral immune system provides a framework for stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats. Specifically, stigmatization might increase with rising levels of infectious disease threat. The present study aimed to examine this hypothesis during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the "EUCLID" project ( https://euclid.dbvis.de ), a total of 5011 persons from Germany were surveyed via an online-questionnaire between February 2 and April 3, 2020, covering the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic over three time periods which were defined by critical events.
There was no evidence for an increase in the stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people across three topics, that is personal proximity, air travel, and medical measures upon arrival from China.
The present findings provide good news in that participants showed an adaptive response to the infectious disease threat rather than displaying increased stigmatization. Further research is necessary to specify the conditions that increase the risk of stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats.
COVID-19 的爆发和全球传播伴随着对中国人和亚洲人外貌的歧视报道的增加。行为免疫系统为传染病威胁下的污名化提供了一个框架。具体来说，随着传染病威胁水平的上升，污名化可能会增加。本研究旨在 COVID-19 大流行早期阶段检验这一假设。
作为“EUCLID”项目（https://euclid.dbvis.de）的一部分，共有 5011 名来自德国的人于 2020 年 2 月 2 日至 4 月 3 日通过在线问卷进行了调查，涵盖了 COVID-19 大流行在三个时间段的进展，这三个时间段由关键事件定义。
在个人接近度、航空旅行和从中国抵达后的医疗措施三个主题中，没有证据表明对中国人和亚洲人外貌的污名化程度有所增加。
本研究结果带来了好消息，即参与者对传染病威胁表现出适应性反应，而不是表现出污名化的增加。需要进一步研究以确定增加对传染病威胁产生污名化风险的条件。
