Social Distance during the COVID-19 Pandemic Reflects Perceived Rather Than Actual Risk

Tina Iachini, Francesca Frassinetti, Francesco Ruotolo, Filomena Leonela Sbordone, Antonella Ferrara, Maria Arioli, Francesca Pazzaglia, Andrea Bosco, Michela Candini, Antonella Lopez, Alessandro Oronzo Caffò, Zaira Cattaneo, Ferdinando Fornara and Gennaro Ruggiero
Additional contact information
Tina Iachini: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Francesca Frassinetti: Department of Psychology, Università di Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Francesco Ruotolo: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Filomena Leonela Sbordone: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Antonella Ferrara: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy
Maria Arioli: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy
Francesca Pazzaglia: Department of General Psychology, Università degli Studi di Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy
Andrea Bosco: Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, 70121 Bari, Italy
Michela Candini: Department of Psychology, Università di Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Antonella Lopez: Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, 70121 Bari, Italy
Alessandro Oronzo Caffò: Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, 70121 Bari, Italy
Zaira Cattaneo: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milano, Italy
Ferdinando Fornara: Department of Education, Psychology, Philosophy, Università di Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Gennaro Ruggiero: Department of Psychology, Università degli Studi della Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, 81100 Caserta, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: Interpersonal space (IPS) is the area surrounding our own bodies in which we interact comfortably with other individuals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping larger IPS than usual, along with wearing a face mask, is one of the most effective measures to slow down the COVID-19 outbreak. Here, we explore the contribution of actual and perceived risk of contagion and anxiety levels in regulating our preferred social distance from other people during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. In this study, 1293 individuals from six Italian regions with different levels of actual risk of infection participated in an online survey assessing their perceived risk to be infected, level of anxiety and IPS. Two tasks were adopted as measures of interpersonal distance: the Interpersonal Visual Analogue Scale and a questionnaire evaluating interpersonal distance with and without face mask. The results showed that the IPS regulation was affected by how people subjectively perceived COVID-19 risk and the related level of anxiety, not by actual objective risk. This clarifies that the role of threat in prompting avoidant behaviors expressed in increased IPS does not merely reflect environmental events but rather how they are subjectively experienced and represented.

Keywords: social distancing; interpersonal space; COVID-19; risk perception; anxiety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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