The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the world, and concerns about psychological, social, and economic consequences are growing rapidly. Individuals’ empathy-based reactions towards others may be an important resilience factor in the face of COVID-19. Self-report data from 15,375 participants across 23 countries were collected from May to August 2020 during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this study examined different facets of empathy—Perspective-Taking, Empathic Concern, and Personal Distress, and their association with cross-cultural ratings on Individualism, Power Distance, The Human Development Index, Social Support Ranking, and the Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index, as well as the currently confirmed number of cases of COVID-19 at the time of data collection. The highest ratings on Perspective-Taking were obtained for USA, Brazil, Italy, Croatia, and Armenia (from maximum to minimum); on Empathetic Concern, for the USA, Brazil, Hungary, Italy, and Indonesia; and on Personal Distress, from Brazil, Turkey, Italy, Armenia, Indonesia. Results also present associations between demographic factors and empathy across countries. Limitations and future directions are presented.
Butovskaya, M. L., Burkova, V. N., Randall, A. K., Donato, S., Fedenok, J. N., Hocker, L., Kline, K. M., Ahmadi, K., Alghraibeh, A. M., Mutsher Allami, F. B., Alpaslan, F. S., Abdelaziz Al-Zu'Bi, M. A., Bicer, D. F., Cetinkaya, H., David, O. A., Dural, S., Erickson, P., Ermakov, A. M., Ertugrul, B., Fayankinnu, E. A., Fisher, M. L., Hromatko, I., Kasparova, E., Kavina, A., Khun-Inkeeree, H., Koc, F., Kolodkin, V., Maceacheron, M., Maruf, I. R., Mesko, N., Mkrtchyan, R., Nurisnaeny, P. S., Ojedokun, O., Adebayo, D., Omar-Fauzee, M. S. B., Ozener, B., Tinoco Ponciano, E. L., Popov, I. V., Rizwan, M., Sabiniewicz, A., Spodina, V. I., Stoyanova, S., Tripathi, N., Upadhyay, S., Weisfeld, C., Mohd Yaakob, M. F., Yusof, M. R., Zinurova, R. I., Cross-cultural perspectives on the role of empathy during COVID-19’s first wave, <<SUSTAINABILITY>>, 2021; 2021 (13): 1-35. [doi:10.3390/su13137431] [https://hdl.handle.net/10807/203789]
Cross-cultural perspectives on the role of empathy during COVID-19’s first wave
Donato, Silvia;
2021
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has spread throughout the world, and concerns about psychological, social, and economic consequences are growing rapidly. Individuals’ empathy-based reactions towards others may be an important resilience factor in the face of COVID-19. Self-report data from 15,375 participants across 23 countries were collected from May to August 2020 during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, this study examined different facets of empathy—Perspective-Taking, Empathic Concern, and Personal Distress, and their association with cross-cultural ratings on Individualism, Power Distance, The Human Development Index, Social Support Ranking, and the Infectious Disease Vulnerability Index, as well as the currently confirmed number of cases of COVID-19 at the time of data collection. The highest ratings on Perspective-Taking were obtained for USA, Brazil, Italy, Croatia, and Armenia (from maximum to minimum); on Empathetic Concern, for the USA, Brazil, Hungary, Italy, and Indonesia; and on Personal Distress, from Brazil, Turkey, Italy, Armenia, Indonesia. Results also present associations between demographic factors and empathy across countries. Limitations and future directions are presented.
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