Our research investigated the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and examined factors exacerbating or mitigating the negative effects of lockdown. Through a large multi-country online survey we showed that levels of anxiety and depression were on average elevated worldwide, and were exacerbated by social isolation and feelings of low control.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents a massive global health crisis. Because the crisis requires large-scale behaviour change and places significant psychological burdens on individuals, insights from the social and behavioural sciences can be used to help align human behaviour with the recommendations of epidemiologists and public health experts.

The present crisis continues to demand an all-out response from behavioural scientists if it is to be mastered with minimal damage. This means we, as the behavioural science community, need to think about how we can adapt to best support evidence-based policy in a rapidly changing, high-stakes environment.

We are still in the middle of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Today we are looking at more than 13.6Mio confirmed cases. To reduce the transmission of the virus, radical measures were taken by the governments including curfew, quarantine, travel bans, social distancing, school closures etc. However, it is unclear how these measures affect the mental health of the general population.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there is a growing need for assessing the psychological costs of social isolation (SI). We examine whether the balcony party can help people cope better with SI during the COVID-19 outbreak. We examined the psychological effects of SI on persons in Israel and Italy between March 23th, 2020 and April 2th, 2020. A total of 303 quarantined persons responded to a Web-based survey. We found that the effect of balcony parties on the psychological costs of SI is dependent on the level of social isolation.

The present study examined the relationship between worry and health behaviours related to the COVID-19 pandemic in a cross-section of nearly 70000 respondents in 58 countries.

COVID-19 is rearranging society. Fear, and worry about the virus are directly impacting the mental health of Americans. Our presentation examines the intersection of COVID-19 fear, worry, and perceived threat with social vulnerabilities and mental health consequences, namely depressive and anxiety symptomatology as well as suicidality.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has changed many people’s lives. Some people have responded to the rising of the pandemic by engaging in panic buying behaviors, a phenomenon that has not been well-understood in the past. People who believe in these conspiracies may experience a heightened sense of powerlessness and vulnerability. As a result, they may be particularly susceptible to palliatively and compensatorily engage in the panic buying behaviors (i.e., stockpiling). Supporting this idea, two studies using data from the U.K. (cross-sectional) and the U.S. (longitudinal) show that people who endorse COVID-19 conspiracy theories are more likely to engage in stockpiling behaviors in the past as well as in the future.

The coronavirus pandemic has necessitated extraordinary human resilience in order to preserve and prolong life and social order. Risks to health and even life are being confronted by workers in health and social care, as well as those in roles previously never defined as “frontline”, such as individuals working in community supply chains. The strategy adopted by the UK government in facing the challenges of the pandemic was markedly different from other countries

The Covid-19 pandemic is a critical life-event which potentially evokes stress and requires adaptation in various dimensions: One needs to cope with the threat of getting infected with Covid-19, job and financial restrictions, as well as restrictions in social relationships and stress in everyday-life. Various studies have identified listening to music as a potential means to regulate negative emotions and thus cope with stress. Hence, among other coping processes, listening to music might be a means to cope with stress following the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented and pervasive stressor that has altered every aspect of society. Understanding the psychological and behavioral effects of stress, social distancing, financial hardship and COVID-related health challenges will be critical for informing appropriate mental health interventions and social policies during the recovery period. To comprehensively assess these effects, we are currently conducting a large-scale, mobile app-based, longitudinal study to track how social distancing and COVID-related stress affects psychological health and economic decision-making.