According to a new study by psychologists at Georgia State University, older men are least worried about the coronavirus pandemic.
A positive attitude is wonderful. However, many are starting to forget about basic safety measures, and pensioners have the highest risk of contracting COVID-19, the authors of the study write.
CDC data show that mortality from COVID-19 is steadily increasing with age, and that men are at greater risk than women.
To test anxiety levels, scientists conducted an online questionnaire evaluating the perception of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is well known that anxiety is a key factor in behavioral health changes, including motivating people to switch to a healthy diet, exercise, and timely health screenings.
In general, anxiety begins to subside with age, and is also lower among men than among women.
Older people not only show less negative emotions in their daily lives, they also show less concern for such a viral epidemic, the study said.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that older people survived wars, epidemics and other stressful events in their lives. Under normal circumstances, this calm is only good for pensioners, but where COVID-19 is concerned, less anxiety will lead to fewer defensive behavioral changes.
All survey participants lived in the United States and were between 18–35 years old or 65–81 years old, with 146 young people and 156 older people being examined. The questionnaire assessed the estimated severity of COVID-19, for example, whether respondents felt that people were overreacting to the threat of COVID-19, and whether it was similar in risk to influenza.
The survey also assessed concerns about COVID-19, including how worried they were that they themselves had contracted the virus, and a family member had contracted it. Whether it affected lifestyle disruption, a decline in personal or family income, and a shortage of food or medicine in stores.
The questionnaire evaluated behavioral changes that could reduce the risk of infection: from washing hands more often to wearing a mask, avoiding communication, public places, and full quarantine.
The survey showed that most participants were at least moderately concerned about the pandemic. As expected, anxiety turned into defensive behavior: more than 80 percent of the participants reported that they wash their hands more often, care more about cleanliness, no longer shake hands and avoid public places.
More than 60 percent of participants also reported that they no longer communicate with other people. Compared to all other participants, older people were less worried about COVID-19 and accepted the least amount of change in behavior. They were relatively less likely to wear a mask, to report that they had stopped touching their faces, or to buy extra food.
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