Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Department of Human and Social Sciences University of the System of the Italian Chambers of Commerce, Universitas Mercatorum, Piazza Mattei 10, 00186, Rome, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 14;14(1):24018. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-74217-7.
The analysis of the benefits and costs of social distancing is a crucial aspect for understanding how individual and community actions can mitigate and manage the costs of a pandemic. In this study, we aimed to investigate the extent to which personality factors and emotional intelligence (EI) contributed to the subjective assessment of the benefits and costs of social distancing behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also aimed at determining whether EI served as a mediator in the relationship between personality traits and the evaluation of social distancing consequences. Data was collected via online surveys from a sample of 223 Italian-speaking participants (age: 30.78 ± 9.97; 86.1% females) between March and April 2021. Findings indicate that the tendency to prioritize the benefits of social distancing over personal costs was positively associated with emotional stability and emotion regulation, but negatively associated with extroversion. The following mediational analyses revealed that the emotion regulation facet of EI mediated the associations between personality dimensions (emotional stability and extroversion) and the evaluation of the costs and benefits of social distancing. These findings provide useful indications and implications for developing appropriate communication strategies aimed at reaching the general population and suggest that, during health-related crises, emphasis should be placed on offering courses and programs to improve and develop individuals' EI.
社会疏离的效益和成本分析是理解个人和社区行动如何减轻和管理大流行病成本的关键方面。在这项研究中，我们旨在调查人格因素和情绪智力（EI）在多大程度上有助于主观评估 COVID-19 大流行期间社会疏离行为的效益和成本。我们还旨在确定 EI 是否在人格特质与社会疏离后果评估之间的关系中起中介作用。数据是通过 2021 年 3 月至 4 月期间对 223 名讲意大利语的参与者（年龄：30.78 ± 9.97；86.1%女性）的在线调查收集的。研究结果表明，优先考虑社会疏离效益而不是个人成本的倾向与情绪稳定性和情绪调节呈正相关，但与外向性呈负相关。以下中介分析表明，EI 的情绪调节方面中介了人格维度（情绪稳定性和外向性）与社会疏离的成本和效益评估之间的关联。这些发现为制定旨在覆盖普通大众的适当沟通策略提供了有用的指示和启示，并表明在与健康相关的危机期间，应强调提供课程和计划，以提高和发展个人的 EI。
