COVID-19 and social distancing: a cross-cultural study of interpersonal distance preferences and touch behaviors before and during the pandemic

• Autor(es): 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 ; Frackowiak, Tomasz ; Guemaz, Farida ; Hromatko, Ivana ; Kafetsios, Konstantinos ; Kavčič, Tina ; Khilji, Imran ; Kruk, Magdalena ; Lazăr, Cătălin ; Lindholm, Torun ; Londero-Santos, Amanda ; Monaghan, Conal ; Shahid, Anam ; Musil, Bojan ; Natividade, Jean Carlos ; Oberzaucher, Elisabeth ; Oleszkiewicz, Anna ; Onyishi, Ike E. ; Onyishi, Charity ; Pagani, Ariela F. ; Parise, Miriam ; Pisanski, Katarzyna ; Plohl, Nejc ; Popa, Camelia ; Prokop, Pavol ; Rizwan, Muhammad ; Sainz, Mario ; Sargautytė, Rūta ; Sharad, Shivantika ; Valentova, Jaroslava ; Varella, Marco ; Yakhlef, Belkacem ; Yoo, Gyesook ; Zager Kocjan, Gaja ; Zupančič, Maja ; Sorokowska, Agnieszka
• Data: 2024
• Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/65131
• Origem: Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
• Assunto(s): Nonverbal communication; Interpersonal distance preferences; Interpersonal touch behaviors; COVID-19 pandemic; Cross-cultural psychology
• Tipo de Documento: Artigo científico
• Idioma: Inglês
• Contribuidor(es): Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto da ULisboa

Descrição

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.