To Be Scared or Not to Be Scared: Social Representations of COVID-19 in Young People (A Cross-Cultural Study)

Irina A. Novikova (), Elizaveta B. Berezina, Marianna E. Sachkova, Nikolay V. Dvoryanchikov, Alexey L. Novikov and Inna B. Bovina ()
Additional contact information
Irina A. Novikova: Psychology and Pedagogy Department, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia Named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University), 6 Miklukho-Maklaya Str., 117198 Moscow, Russia
Elizaveta B. Berezina: Department of Psychology, Sunway University, Bandar Sunway 47500, Malaysia
Marianna E. Sachkova: Department of General Psychology, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy & Public Administration, 82 Prospekt Vernadskogo, bldg 1, 119571 Moscow, Russia
Nikolay V. Dvoryanchikov: Department of Clinical and Legal Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, 29, Sretenka, 127051 Moscow, Russia
Alexey L. Novikov: General and Russian Linguistics Department, Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia Named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University), 6 Miklukho-Maklaya Str., 117198 Moscow, Russia
Inna B. Bovina: Department of Clinical and Legal Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, 29, Sretenka, 127051 Moscow, Russia

Social Sciences, 2024, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic is a serious global threat to the world’s population. The aim of the presented exploratory study was to reveal and analyse social thinking about COVID-19 in two different cultural contexts: Russia and Malaysia. Social representation (SR) theory is a promising framework to analyse the symbolic response to the global health emergency. This exploratory study was conducted at the time of new COVID-19 variants’ emergence, accompanied by quarantine measures, and mass vaccination was not elaborated yet (12 October–15 December 2020). The total sample (convenience sampling) consisted of 349 young adults from Malaysia ( n = 195, 35.4% males, 64.6% females) and Russia ( n = 154, 10% males, 90% females) aged 17–36 years. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants, and an online version of the questionnaire was proposed to participants. The free association technique was used as the main tool in order to reveal the content of SRs. This prototypical analysis allowed us to reveal a hypothetical structure of SRs in the two cultural groups. These SR structures in each sample were crystallised around mostly negative elements. While in the Malaysian sample, the key elements were troubling and disturbing (death, pandemic, virus, quarantine), in the Russian sample (quarantine, disease), these elements could be seen as a rationalisation (or even a denial) of the COVID-19 threat.

Keywords: COVID-19; social representation theory; cross-cultural study; social thinking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/1/62/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/1/62/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:1:p:62-:d:1321138

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().