Email this article Predictors of prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 national lockdown in Italy: Testing the role of psychological sense of community and other community assets
Abstract
There is growing support for viewing communities as a multilevel construct in which the interdependence between individuals and community systems contributes to the promotion of individual responsibilities in thinking and enacting changes to respond to people’s and community’s needs. However, there is currently scant evidence regarding the influence of psychological sense of community and the role of community assets on prosocial behavior during the COVID-19 national lockdown. The main aim of the current study was to test a conceptual model of community assets as predictors of prosocial behavior during Italy’s COVID-19 national lockdown. A sample of 3,964 Italian adults was involved in the current study. We collected data using an online questionnaire, between April 12 and May 21, 2020, during the nationwide lockdown restrictions. To collect data, we employed convenience and virtual snowball sampling strategies (i.e., email, social networks, and online channels). Using structural equation modeling, we found that prosocial behavior was predicted by sense of community responsibility but not by sense of community. Moreover, sense of community and sense of community responsibility were predicted by community members’ perception of its assets, in particular collective resilience and adequate information. Finally, trust in the institutional response to the pandemic predicted community members’ perception of collective resilience and receiving adequate information through the community. The present study suggests that community qualities, positively perceived by community members, are crucial in promoting prosocial behaviors and producing collective goods during a pandemic.
References
Albanesi, C., Berkowitz, B., & Stark, W. (2021, June 3-4). The new bank of community ideas and solution [Symposium]. 11th ECCP Conference, Oslo, Norway.
Allain-Dupré, D., Chatry, I., Michalun, V., & Moisio, A. (2020, November). The territorial impact of COVID-19: Managing the crisis across levels of government. OECD. https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/theterritorial-impact-of-covid-19-managing-the-crisis-across-levels-ofgovernment-d3e314e1/
Almeida, M., Shrestha, A. D., Stojanac, D., & Miller, L. J. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s mental health. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 23(6), 741-748. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-020-01092-2
Bangerter, A., Krings, F., Mouton, A., Gilles, I., Green, E.G.T., & Clémence, A. (2012). Longitudinal investigation of public trust in institutions relative to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in Switzerland. PLoS ONE, 7(11), e49806. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0049806
Boyd, N.M., & Nowell, B. (2017). Testing a theory of sense of community and community responsibility in organizations: An empirical assessment of predictive capacity on employee well‐being and organizational citizenship. Journal of Community Psychology, 45(2), 210-229. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21843
Boyd, N.M., Nowell, B., Yang, Z., & Hano, M.C. (2018). Sense of community, sense of community responsibility, and public service motivation as predictors of employee well-being and engagement in public service organizations. The American Review of Public Administration, 48(5), 428-443. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074017692875
Brooks, S.K., Webster, R.K., Smith, L.E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. The Lancet, 395(10227), 912-920. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8
Burki, T. (2020). The indirect impact of COVID-19 on women. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20(8), 904-905. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30568-5
Butler, P. (2020, April 13). A million volunteer to help NHS and others during Covid-19 outbreak. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/13/a-million-volunteer-to-help-nhs-and-others-during-covid-19-lockdown
Capone, V., Caso, D., Donizzetti, A. R., & Procentese, F. (2020). University student mental well-being during COVID-19 outbreak: What are the relationships between information seeking, perceived risk and personal resources related to the academic context? Sustainability, 12(17), 7039. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7039
Chamlee-Wright, E., & Storr, V.H. (2011). Social capital as collective narratives and post-disaster community recovery. The Sociological Review, 59(2), 266-282. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02008.x
Cheng, K.K., Lam, T.H., & Leung, C. C. (2020). Wearing face masks in the community during the COVID-19 pandemic: Altruism and solidarity. The Lancet. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30918-1
Claridge, T. (2018). Functions of social capital–bonding, bridging, linking. Social Capital Research, 10(11), 1-7. https://d1fs2th61pidml.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Functions-of-Social-Capital.pdf?x66629
Coccia M. (2021, January). Which countries and why have the best preparedness to cope with pandemic threat and support COVID-19 vaccinations? Working Paper CocciaLab n. 60/2021, CNR -National Research Council of Italy. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3814697
Connor, J., Madhavan, S., Mokashi, M., Amanuel, H., Johnson, N. R., Pace, L. E., & Bartz, D. (2020). Health risks and outcomes that disproportionately affect women during the Covid-19 pandemic: A review. Social Science & Medicine, 266(113364), 1-7. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113364
Cope, M. R., Slack, T., Blanchard, T. C., & Lee, M. R. (2016). It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you place the blame: Shifting perceptions of recreancy in the context of the deepwater horizon oil spill. Rural Sociology, 81(3), 295–315. https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12096
De Marchi, B. (2003). Public participation and risk governance. Science and Public Policy, 30(3), 171-176. https://doi.org/10.3152/147154303781780434
Devine, D., Gaskell, J., Jennings, W., & Stoker, G. (2021). Trust and the Coronavirus pandemic: What are the consequences of and for trust? An early review of the literature. Political Studies Review, 19(2), 274–285. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920948684
Dutta, U. (2016). Prioritizing the local in an era of globalization: A proposal for decentering community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 58(3-4), 329-338. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12047
Elcheroth, G., & Drury, J. (2020). Collective resilience in times of crisis: Lessons from the literature for socially effective responses to the pandemic. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(3), 703-713. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12403
Enchikova, E., Neves, T., Mejias, S., Kalmus, V., Cicognani, E., & Ferreira, P. D. (2019). Civic and political participation of European youth: Fair measurement in different cultural and social contexts. Frontiers in Education, 4(10), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00010
Falcone, R., Colì, E., Felletti, S., Sapienza, A., Castelfranchi, C., & Paglieri, F. (2020). All we need is trust: How the COVID-19 outbreak reconfigured trust in Italian public institutions. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 561747. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.561747
Gatti, F., & Procentese, F. (2020). Open neighborhoods, sense of community, and Instagram use: Disentangling modern local community experience through a multilevel path analysis with a multiple informant approach. TPM: Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 27(3), 313-329. https://doi.org/10.4473/TPM27.3.2
Gatti, F., & Procentese, F. (2021). Local community experience as an anchor sustaining reorientation processes during COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability, 13(8), 4385. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084385
Gilles, I., Bangerter, A., Clémence, A., Green, E. G. T., Krings, F., Staerklé, C., & Wagner-Egger, P. (2011). Trust in medical organizations predicts pandemic (H1N1) 2009 vaccination behavior and perceived efficacy of protection measures in the Swiss public. European Journal of Epidemiology, 26(3), 203-210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-011-9577-2
Gozzi, N., Tizzani, M., Starnini, M., Ciulla, F., Paolotti, D., Panisson, A., & Perra, N. (2020). Collective response to media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic on reddit and Wikipedia: mixed-methods analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(10), e21597. https://doi.org/10.2196/21597
Hale, T., Angrist, N., Goldszmidt, R., Kira, B., Petherick, A., Phillips, T., ... & Tatlow, H. (2021). A global panel database of pandemic policies (Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker). Nature Human Behaviour, 5(4), 529-538. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01079-8
Hawkins, R.L., & Maurer, K. (2010). Bonding, bridging and linking: How social capital operated in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. British Journal of Social Work, 40(6), 1777-1793. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcp087
Houston, J.B., Spialek, M. L., Cox, J., Greenwood, M. M., & First, J. (2014). The centrality of communication and media in fostering community resilience: A framework for assessment and intervention. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(2), 270-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764214548563
Hu, L.T., & Bentler, P.M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1-55.
Jorgensen, T. D., Pornprasertmanit, S., Schoemann, A. M., & Rosseel, Y. (2020). semTools: Useful tools for structural equation modeling. R package version 0.5-3. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=semTools
Kelly, C., & Breinlinger, S. (1996). The social psychology of collective action: Identity, injustice and gender. Taylor & Francis.
Kline, R. (2011). Convergence of structural equation modeling and multilevel modeling. In The SAGE handbook of innovation in social research methods (pp. 562-589). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781446268261
Kong, D.T. (2013). Intercultural experience as an impediment of trust: Examining the impact of intercultural experience and social trust culture on institutional trust in government. Social Indicators Research, 113(3), 847–858. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0117-6
Laverack, G., & Manoncourt, E. (2015). Key experiences of community engagement and social mobilization in the Ebola response. Global Health Promotion, 23(1), 79-82. http://doi.org/doi:10.1177/1757975915606674
Liu, J.H., Milojev, P., Gil de Zúñiga, H., & Zhang, R. J. (2018). The Global Trust Inventory as a “proxy measure” for social capital: Measurement and impact in 11 democratic societies. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(5), 789–810. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022118766619
Lyons, A., Fletcher, G., & Bariola, E. (2016). Assessing the well-being benefits of belonging to resilient groups and communities: Development and testing of the Fletcher-Lyons Collective Resilience Scale (FLCRS). Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 20(2), 65-77. https://doi.org/10.1037/gdn0000041
Malherbe, N. (2020). Community psychology and the crisis of care. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(7), 2131-2137. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22427
Mannarini, T., Rochira, A., Ciavolino, E., & Salvatore, S. (2020). Individual and perceived community determinants of sense of community: The role of universalistic values. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(2), 623-637. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22255
McMillan, D.W., & Chavis, D.M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14(1), 6-23. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6629(198601)14:13.0.CO;2-I
Menoni, S., & Schwarze, R. (2020). Recovery during a crisis: Facing the challenges of risk assessment and resilience management of COVID-19. Environment Systems & Decisions, 40, 189-198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10669-020-09775-y
Merchant, R.M., & Lurie, N. (2020). Social media and emergency preparedness in response to novel coronavirus. JAMA, 323(20), 2011-2012. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.4469
Newman, D.A. (2014). Missing data: Five practical guidelines. Organizational Research Methods, 17(4), 372-411. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428114548590
Nowell, B., & Boyd, N.M. (2010). Viewing community as responsibility as well as resource: Deconstructing the theoretical roots of psychological sense of community. Journal of Community Psychology, 38(7), 828-841. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20398
Oliveira, A.T.C., & Morais, N.A.D. (2018). Community resilience: An integrative literature review study. Trends in Psychology, 26, 1731-1745. https://doi.org/10.9788/tp2018.4-02pt
Omoto, A. M., & Snyder, M. (2009). Influences of psychological sense of community on voluntary helping and prosocial action. In S. Stürmer & M. Snyder (Eds.), The psychology of prosocial behavior: Group processes, intergroup relations, and helping (pp. 223-243). Wiley-Balckwell.
Paek, H.-J., Hilyard, K., Freimuth, V.S., Barge, J.K., & Mindlin, M. (2008). Public support for government actions During a flu pandemic: Lessons learned from a statewide survey. Health Promotion Practice, 9(4_suppl), 60S-72S. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839908322114
Perkins, D.D., Hughey, J., & Speer, P.W. (2002). Community psychology perspectives on social capital theory and community development practice. Community Development, 33(1), 33-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/15575330209490141
Peterson, N.A., Speer, P.W., & McMillan, D.W. (2008). Validation of a brief sense of community scale: Confirmation of the principal theory of sense of community. Journal of Community Psychology, 36(1), 61-73. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20217
Pfefferbaum, R.L., Pfefferbaum, B., Nitiéma, P., Houston, J.B., & Van Horn, R.L. (2014). Assessing community resilience: An application of the expanded CART survey instrument with affiliated volunteer responders. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(2), 181-199. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764214550295
Pfefferbaum, R.L., Pfefferbaum, B., Van Horn, R.L., Klomp, R.W., Norris, F.H., & Reissman, D.B. (2013). The Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART): An intervention to build community resilience to disasters. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 19(3), 250-258. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0b013e318268aed8
Pfefferbaum, R. L., Pfefferbaum, B., Zhao, Y. D., Van Horn, R. L., McCarter, G. S. M., & Leonard, M.B. (2016). Assessing community resilience: A CART survey application in an impoverished urban community. Disaster Health, 3(2), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/21665044.2016.1189068
Power, K. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the care burden of women and families. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 16(1), 67-73. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2020.1776561
Prati, G. (2021). Mental health and its psychosocial predictors during national quarantine in Italy against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 34(2), 145-156. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2020.1861253
Prati, G., Pietrantoni, L., & Zani, B. (2011a). Compliance with recommendations for pandemic influenza H1N1 2009: The role of trust and personal beliefs. Health Education Research, 26(5), 761-769. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyr035
Prati, G., Pietrantoni, L., & Zani, B. (2011b). A social-cognitive model of pandemic influenza H1N1 risk perception and recommended behaviors in Italy. Risk Analysis, 31(4), 645-656. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2010.01529.x
Prati, G., Procentese, F., Albanesi, C., Cicognani, E., Fedi, A., Gatti, F., Mannarini, T., Rochira, A., Tartaglia, S., Boyd, N., Nowell, B., & Gattino, S. (2020). Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the sense of community responsibility scale. Journal of Community Psychology, 48(6), 1770-1790. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22366
Procentese, F., Gatti, F., & Falanga, A. (2019). Sense of responsible togetherness, sense of community and participation: Looking at the relationships in a university campus. Human Affairs, 29(2), 247-263. https://doi.org/10.1515/humaff-2019-0020
Procentese, F., & Gatti, F. (2019). Senso di convivenza responsabile: Quale ruolo nella relazione tra partecipazione e benessere sociale? [Sense of responsible togetherness: Which role within the relationship between social participation and well-being?] Psicologia Sociale, 14(3), 405-426. https://doi.org/10.1482/94942
Quinn, S.C., Parmer, J., Freimuth, V.S., Hilyard, K.M., Musa, D., & Kim, K.H. (2013). Exploring communication, trust in government, and vaccination intention later in the 2009 H1N1 pandemic: Results of a national survey. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science, 11(2), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.1089/bsp.2012.0048
Revell, P., & Dinnie, E. (2020). Community resilience and narratives of community empowerment in Scotland. Community Development Journal, 55(2), 218-236. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsy038
Rushton, J. P., Chrisjohn, R. D., & Fekken, G. C. (1981). The altruistic personality and the Self-Report Altruism Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 2(4), 293-302. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(81)90084-2
Sarason, S.B. (1974). The psychological sense of community: Prospects for a community psychology. Jossey-Bass.
Sibley, C.G., Greaves, L.M., Satherley, N., Wilson, M.S., Overall, N.C., Lee, C.H.J., Milojev, P., Bulbulia, J., Osborne, D., Milfont, T.L., Houkamau, C.A., Duck, I.M., Vickers-Jones, R., & Barlow, F. K. (2020). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown on trust, attitudes toward government, and well-being. American Psychologist, 75(5), 618–630. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000662
Slack, T., Parks, V., Ayer, L., Parker, A. M., Finucane, M. L., & Ramchand, R. (2020). Natech or natural? An analysis of hazard perceptions, institutional trust, and future storm worry following Hurricane Harvey. Natural Hazards, 102(3), 1207–1224. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-03953-6
Steelman, T.A., & McCaffrey, S. (2013). Best practices in risk and crisis communication: Implications for natural hazards management. Natural Hazards, 65(1), 683-705. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0386-z
Steelman, T.A., McCaffrey, S. M., Velez, A.-L. K., & Briefel, J. A. (2015). What information do people use, trust, and find useful during a disaster? Evidence from five large wildfires. Natural Hazards, 76(1), 615-634. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-014-1512-x
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6 ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.
Talò, C. (2018). Community-based determinants of community engagement: A meta-analysis research. Social Indicators Research, 140(2), 571-596. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1778-y
Talò, C., Mannarini, T., & Rochira, A. (2014). Sense of community and community participation: A meta-analytic review. Social Indicators Research, 117(1), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0347-2
Ullman, J. B. (2006). Structural equation modeling: Reviewing the basics and moving forward. Journal of personality assessment, 87(1), 35-50. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa8701_03
WHO. (2020, March 11). WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020. https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020
Wolf, L. J., Haddock, G., Manstead, A. S. R., & Maio, G. R. (2020). The importance of (shared) human values for containing the COVID-19 pandemic. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(3), 618-627. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12401
Yang, C., Wang, Y., Hall, B. J., & Chen, H. (2020). Sense of community responsibility and altruistic behavior in Chinese community residents: The mediating role of community identity. Current Psychology, 39, 1999-2009. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00667-7
Full Text: PDF
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
