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Spotlight Research Presentations

Multicultural Psychology

Predictors and Determinants of Coping with COVID-19: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Spotlight Research 3 - Predictors and Determinants of Coping with COVID-19: Cross-cultural Perspectives

Saturday, November 19, 2022

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EST

Location: Chelsea, 7th Floor

Earn 1.5 CE Credit

Keywords: Multicultural Psychology, Global Mental Health, Health Psychology
Level of Familiarity: All
Recommended Readings: Jarukasemthawee, S., Halford, W. K., & McLean, J. P. (2019). When East meets West: A randomized controlled trial and pre- to postprogram evaluation replication of the effects of insight-based mindfulness on psychological well-being. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 29, 307–323. https://doi.org/10.1037/int0000179
Tanaphong Uthayaratana, Nattasuda Taephant & Kullaya Pisitsungkagarn (2019) Four noble truths based problem solving: a therapeutic view. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 22,119-129, DOI: 10.1080/13674676.2018.1512565
William H. O'Brien, Shan Wang, Aniko Viktoria Varga, Huanzhen Xu, Tracy Sims, Kristin Horan, Chung Xiann Lim,
Predicting personal protective equipment use, trauma symptoms, and physical symptoms in the USA during the early weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown (April 9–18, 2020), Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 21,37-47. doi.org/10.1016/j.jcbs.2021.05.003.

Chair(s)

William H. O'Brien, Ph.D.

Professor
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio

Panelist(s)

KP

Kullaya Pisitsungkagarn, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand
PS

Panita Suavansri, Ph.D.

Lecturer
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand
Jennifer Chavanovanich, Ph.D.

Director of East West Psychological Science and Research Center
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand
SW

Shan Wang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Duke Kunshan University
Suzhou, Jiangsu, China (People's Republic)

The COVID-19 pandemic created a complex psychological environment for persons around the world. In this presentation, researchers from Thailand, China, and the USA will describe the processes, challenges, and benefits associated with conducting cross-cultural research on COVID-19. They will review cross-cultural research in COVID-19 and present the results of several studies examining predictors and correlates of preventive health behaviors and psychological reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first study collected data via social media in the USA and China during early stages of the pandemic (March 2020). The second study collected data via MTurk in the USA at three time points in (April, June, September). The third study collected data via MTurk in the USA in September/October 2021. The fourth study will collect data in the USA and Thailand via social media in the Spring of 2022.
The four studies have measures of COVID-19 preventive health behaviors (PPE, Social Distancing), adverse psychological reactions to COVID-19 (pandemic fatigue, psychological distress, physical symptoms, mental health, quality of life), and positive psychological reactions to COVID-19 (post traumatic growth). Demographic predictors include age, sex, medical status, education, income, job status, and living circumstances. Based on health behavior and learning theories, measures of perceived susceptibility and intolerance of uncertainty are contained in the data sets. Finally, cultural indicators (acculturation, individualism, collectivism, country) and cross-cultural measures of mindfulness-related mediators and moderators (impermanence, acceptance of suffering, non-self-attachment, serenity, self-compassion, compassion, psychological flexibility) of the (a) COVID-19 stress – psychological distress/growth relationship and (b) susceptibility – PPE use/Social distancing relationship were collected. The results of these studies provide insight into how persons from differing cultural contexts experience and cope with COVID-19 related distress. The studies also demonstrate that the inclusion of Eastern-based mindfulness and coping constructs significantly improves upon the conventional and limited contemporary Western-based models.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the session, the learner will be able to:

Gain an understanding of how culture intersects with psychological reactions to, and coping with, COVID-19.
Better understand how a multicultural approach yields improved prediction of COVID-19 related preventive health behaviors and mental health.
Gain an appreciation of how mindfulness, acculturation, pandemic fatigue, and COVID-19 coping intact with cultural variables.
Summarize cross-cultural findings related to COVID-19 coping and prediction of preventive health behaviors.
Understand the ways that language and translation influence construct measurement.