학술논문
COVID-19 and Social Distancing: A Cross-Cultural Study of Interpersonal Distance Preferences and Touch Behaviors Before and During the Pandemic.
Document Type
Article
Author
Croy, Ilona; Heller, Carina; Akello, Grace; Anjum, Afifa; Atama, Chiemezie; Avsec, Andreja; Bizumic, Boris; Borges Rodrigues, Ricardo; Boussena, Mahmoud; Butovskaya, Marina; Can, Seda; Cetinkaya, Hakan; Contreras-Garduño, Jorge; Costa Lopes, Rui; Czub, Marcin; Demuthova, Slavka; Dronova, Daria; Dural, Seda; Eya, Oliver Ifeanyi; Fatma, Mokadem
Source
Subject
*TOUCH -- Psychological aspects
*SELF-evaluation
*MOTIVATION (Psychology)
*DISEASE incidence
*WORLD health
*SURVEYS
*ETHNOLOGY research
*INTERPERSONAL relations
*QUESTIONNAIRES
*DESCRIPTIVE statistics
*DISEASE susceptibility
*RESEARCH funding
*SOCIAL distancing
*SOCIAL skills
*COVID-19 pandemic
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Language
ISSN
1069-3971
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the introduction of unprecedented safety measures, one of them being physical distancing recommendations. Here, we assessed whether the pandemic has led to long-term effects on two important physical distancing aspects, namely interpersonal distance preferences and interpersonal touch behaviors. We analyzed nearly 14,000 individual cases from two large, cross-cultural surveys – the first conducted 2 years prior to the pandemic and the second during a relatively stable period of a decreased infection rate in May-June 2021. Preferred interpersonal distances increased by 54% globally during the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase was observable across all types of relationships, all countries, and was more pronounced in individuals with higher self-reported vulnerability to diseases. Unexpectedly, participants reported a higher incidence of interpersonal touch behaviors during than before the pandemic. We discuss our results in the context of prosocial and self-protection motivations that potentially promote different social behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]