Analysis of the psychological effects of Covid-19 in Europe during the first weeks of the pandemic. The survey on which this study is based was conducted by international researchers around the world.

Most respondents are aged between 20 years old and 40 years old.

Full time employed lead the survey.

The majority of the answers come from women.

The analysis of perceived individual stress are obtained through the Perceived Stress Scale, that was invented by the psychologists Cohen, Karmak, and Mermelstrein (1983). The Scale use indicators of stress responses, for instance, perceived lack of control over events, pressure from mounting difficulties and feeling upset about unexpected changes. Scores are considered moderate above 2.4 and high above 3.7. More informations about the PS Scale here.

The level of stress was moderate or lower in several countries.
Poland and Croatia reported the highest level of stress in Europe while Denmark and the Netherlands the lowest.

The cause of the respondents’ stress are obtained by asking them questions regarding various factors that represent a source of stress.

The results indicate that nearly all of the respondents are concerned about the national economy.

Partecipants were asked how much they trusted six major institutions in relation to the Covid-19 emergency.

Here there are OECD guidelines on measuring institutions’ trust.

Europeans reported medium level of trust, with the highest level of compliance for their own countries’ healthcare system and the WHO. Countries’ government reported the lowest level of trust.

Poland is the most stressed Nation but it is also one of the country in which the population trust least in their own government. Finland, on the other hand, is the Nation with the least stress related to Covid, and it is also one of the countries in which the population places an high level of compliance for their own government.

It was also asked participants to judge the appropriateness of the countries’ measures in response to the COVID-19 on a scale from 0 (too little), to 5 (appropriate, the black dashed line in the graph), to 10 (too much).

Slovakia and Slovenia were those countries where citizens considered the measures stronger than necessary; in the plot, the vertical mid-line indicates that the measures are appropriate. France and Hungary citizens judged their governments’ response less than appropriate.

Poland was not having confidence in the measures taken by government and did not try to reduce transmission, while Denmark is in the opposite situation. In countries with higher trust towards governments’ efforts, citizens were also more likely to report higher level of compliance with directives aimed at controlling the spread of the virus.

In conclusion, there is a strong negative correlation between an high level of stress and a lack of trust in governments, indeed citizens of northern Europe’s countries are less stressed and they have also an high level of confidence in their governments.