Introduction: We tested the hypothesis that feelings of helplessness — i e , the perception that one is unable to control and prevent negative events — may serve a protective psychological function against fear and anxiety arousal in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic Methods: We conducted a large scale study with participants from different countries (N = 3,632) to examine if perceived helplessness to avoid being infected with COVID-19 relates to lower levels of fear of CO-VID-19, and state anxiety Results: We found a curvilinear relationship between feeling helpless to avoid being infected with COVID-19 and self-reported anxiety Individuals who reported either low or high degrees of helplessness reported less anxiety and fear of being infected with COVID-19 compared to those who reported moderate levels of helplessness Additional analyses within countries with adequate power (N 160) indicated that this curvilinear effect was found among participants from the USA, UK, Poland, Estonia, and the Netherlands, but not in Argentina and Germany Discussion: We discuss the implications for research on the psychological function of helplessness and for understanding peoples’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic © 2020 Guilford Publications All rights reserved

中文翻译：

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Covid-19大流行背景下的动机性无助：避免病毒的能力与焦虑之间存在曲线关系的证据

简介：我们测试了以下假设：在COVID-19大流行的背景下，无助感（即人们无法控制和预防负面事件的感觉）可以起到保护性心理功能，以防止恐惧和焦虑感。来自不同国家/地区的参与者进行的大规模研究（N = 3,632），以检查为避免被感染COVID-19而感到的无助感是否与降低对CO-VID-19的恐惧程度有关，并说明了焦虑症：我们发现在避免避免感染COVID-19的无助感和自我报告的焦虑之间存在曲线关系，与那些报告中度水平的人相比，报告了低度或高度无助的人报告的焦虑和恐惧感有所降低无助状态的分析在拥有足够能力的国家（N 160）中进行的其他分析表明，这种曲线效应是在美国，英国，波兰，爱沙尼亚和荷兰的参与者中发现的，但在阿根廷和德国却没有发现。讨论：我们讨论了研究的意义关于无助的心理功能以及理解人们对COVID-19大流行的反应©2020吉尔福德出版物版权所有我们讨论了对无助的心理功能的研究以及对人们对COVID-19大流行的反应的理解的含义©2020 Guilford Publications保留所有权利我们讨论了对无助的心理功能的研究以及对人们对COVID-19大流行的反应的理解的含义©2020 Guilford Publications保留所有权利我们讨论了对无助的心理功能的研究以及对人们对COVID-19大流行的反应的理解的含义©2020 Guilford Publications保留所有权利我们讨论了对无助的心理功能的研究以及对人们对COVID-19大流行的反应的理解的含义©2020 Guilford Publications保留所有权利