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Media coverage of large-scale violence can result in interfering thoughts and depression. This research investigates the relationship between interfering thoughts and depression when watching the Russo-Ukrainian war. In the theoretical model, the more the war is watched, the more it is related to interfering thoughts, which are related to depression. With the ongoing pandemic, depression, when watching the war, was related to coronavirus threat. Data was collected online from April to June, 2022, with university students in Germany, Finland, and Canada (N = 865). Path analysis results in each sample showed that the model fit the data with sample-specific modification indices. There was full mediation of watching the war by interference on depression, indicating that it is not watching the war, per se, but rather its relationship to cognitive interference, that is associated with depression. Denial and coronavirus threat were positively related to depression. Implications for research and student support are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 24 February 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine. Millions of people tuned into social media to watch the war. Media exposure to disasters and large‐scale violence can precipitate anxiety resulting in intrusive thoughts. This research investigates factors related to anxiety while watching the war. Since the war began during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, threat from COVID‐19 is seen as a predictor of anxiety when watching the war. A theoretical model is put forward where the outcome was anxiety when watching the war, and predictors were self‐reported interference of watching the war with one's studies or work, gender, worry about the war, self‐efficacy and coronavirus threat. Data were collected online with independent samples of university students from two European countries close to Ukraine, Germany (n = 348) and Finland (n = 228), who filled out an anonymous questionnaire. Path analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings showed that the model was an acceptable fit to the data in each sample, and standardised regression coefficients indicated that anxiety, when watching the war, increased with interference, war worry and coronavirus threat, and decreased with self‐efficacy. Women reported more anxiety when watching the war than men. Implications of the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this online empirical study was to examine the relationship between COVID‐19 stress, coping including substance use and behavioural disengagement, and avoidance behaviour early on in the COVID‐19 pandemic. Participants, recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk, N = 730), were adults from Canada, the United States, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. Results of path analysis showed that feeling threatened by the virus, predicted greater COVID‐19 anxiety, which was related to greater substance use to cope with the virus, as well as more behavioural disengagement, which predicted less avoidance behaviour. Implications of the results are discussed, particularly the relationship between coping and avoidance behaviour during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The negative effects of the financial crisis of 2007/2008 are still being felt today as seen in the relatively high levels of youth unemployment in many countries. As a result, many young people experience high stress levels when facing an uncertain and precarious job market.Methods: Participants were 178 undergraduate students (79% female; Mage = 20.00, SD = 4.29) who were randomly assigned to read a news article that documented an uncertain financial future with limited job opportunities (the economic stress group), or an article that documented a tour of the Royal Canadian Mint (the control group). The role of self-compassion was explored in its relation to distress.Results: Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses indicated that, in the economic stress group, self-compassion negatively predicted anxiety above and beyond self-esteem and familial support. In the control group, however, self-compassion did not negatively predict anxiety above and beyond self-esteem and familial support. Additionally, structural equation modeling indicated that self-compassion was directly associated with lower anxiety and indirectly related to anxiety through perceptions of financial threat.Conclusions: These findings suggest that self-compassion may be an important resource that is associated with less distress during times of economic threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation explores how judgments of responsibility influence affective and helping reactions toward natural-disaster victims. Guided by Weiner's (1995, 2006 ) theory of social motivation, we hypothesized that judging victims responsible for a disaster would indirectly lead to low rates of helping. Two studies tested this hypothesis. In Study 1, a bogus earthquake was used to test experimentally the effects of responsibility judgments (low, high). In Study 2, we surveyed attitudes about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Our results showed that Weiner's model was supported across studies. Responsibility judgments led to anger and sympathy, and sympathy led to helping intentions, which in turn led to helping behavior. Comparisons across studies and the relationship between helping intentions and behavior are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: The purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between psychosocial variables and working conditions, and nurses’ coping methods and distress in response to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis in Canada. Participants and procedure: The sample consisted of 333 nurses (315 women, 18 men) who completed an Internet-mediated questionnaire that was posted on the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) website between March and May 2004. The questionnaire was restricted to respondents who had to authenticate their RNAO membership with a valid username and password before accessing the questionnaire. This served a dual purpose: to ensure that only RNAO nurses completed the questionnaire and thereby safeguarding the generalizability of the findings; and second, to prevent any one nurse from contributing more than once to the overall sample. Results: Correlational analysis yielded several significant relationships between psychosocial variables and working conditions, and the traditional correlates of burnout and stress. Three multiple regression analysis revealed that the model we evolved—including higher levels of vigor, organizational support, and trust in equipment/infection control initiative; and lower levels of contact with SARS patients, and time spent in quarantine—predicted to lower levels of avoidance behavior, emotional exhaustion, and state anger. Conclusions: By employing models of stress and burnout that combine psychosocial variables and working conditions, researchers can account for significant amounts of variance in outcomes related to burnout. These findings highlight the importance of vigor and perceived organizational support in predicting nurses’ symptoms of burnout. For healthcare administrators, this means that a likely strategy for assuaging the negative outcomes of stress should address nurses’ psychosocial concerns and the working conditions that they face during novel times of crisis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The study examined predictors of psychological wellbeing in a sample of 181 Turkish immigrants living in Toronto, Canada. Depression and life satisfaction were employed as indicators of psychological wellbeing. A model was put forth in which proactive coping and optimism were hypothesized to predict negatively to depression and positively to life satisfaction. Proactive coping consists of efforts to build up general resources that facilitate the achievement of challenging goals and promotes personal growth and was expected to contribute to the prediction of psychological wellbeing over and above the effects of optimism. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with life satisfaction and depression as criteria and demographics, optimism, and proactive coping as predictors. In general, the results supported the hypotheses; the model fit better when the criterion was depression than when life satisfaction was the criterion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With advancing age, many older adults are vulnerable to a decline in physical functioning. Functional disability has been shown to affect the subjective well-being of the individual, and has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Social support is commonly assumed to protect people from the experience of psychological distress and enhance well-being. Other studies have demonstrated that satisfaction with social support, rather than the frequency with which support was received, is a powerful predictor of self-reported health status. The present study tests a psychosocial model of functional disability in two elderly populations (61 years of age and older): 178 seniors living in the community (136 females and 42 males) and 168 in-patients in a rehabilitation hospital following total hip and knee arthroplasty (118 females and 50 males). Predictors of functional disability were age, gender, and satisfaction with support. In this model, functional disability, with its related loss of independent functioning, was expected to lead to depression. Results indicated that the two samples differed slightly. Specifically, the elderly in the community sample were significantly older than the rehabilitation patients, whereas the hospital sample reported greater functional disability and were more satisfied with their social relations than the community-residing elderly. Results of path analysis in both samples showed that women reported more functional disability than men and satisfaction with support was associated with lower functional disability. Furthermore, functional disability led directly to depression in both samples. Practical implications for the maintenance and enhancement of daily functioning, as well as well-being in later life are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various papers published within the issue including one by Wilmar B. Schaufeli on teacher burnout and another by Marisa Salanova on antecedents of self-efficacy in college teachers and students.

Research findings support the idea that workload is a significant stressor associated with a variety of deleterious psychological reactions, including burnout, in several different samples of workers. A theoretical model is put forth in the present study in which workload is seen as contributing to distress and depression. Increasingly, organisations are experiencing changes as a result of extensive downsizing, restructuring, and merging. As a result of fiscal restraint, hospitals have been forced to merge, close, downsize, and restructure. Workloads have increased among hospital staff, particularly nurses. This study applies a theoretical model to the understanding of the impact of workload on nurses employed in hospitals experiencing downsizing, particularly on their distress, burnout, and depression. Respondents were 488 nurses who were employed in hospitals that were undergoing restructuring and in which units had already been closed as a result of restructuring. Results of structural equation modeling showed that the data partially fit the model and that workload contributed substantially to levels of depression through distress reactions. Further results showed that cynicism, anger, and emotional exhaustion significantly operationalised distress reactions. This study is unique theoretically in linking anger, cynicism, and emotional exhaustion in a single model that predicts distress levels from workload. The findings that anger, cynicism, and emotional exhaustion operationalised distress indicate the importance of studying patterns of negative reactions and their consequences for depression. Implications of the results are discussed for interventions that can be taken by organisations in order to reduce workloads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, organizations are experiencing changes as a result of extensive downsizing, restructuring, and merging. In Canada, government-sponsored medicine has been affected as hospitals have merged or closed, reducing essential medical services and resulting in extensive job loss for hospital workers, particularly nurses. Hospital restructuring has also resulted in greater stress and job insecurity in nurses. The escalation of stressors has created burnout in nurses. This study examines predictors of burnout in nurses experiencing hospital restructuring using the MBI-General Survey which yields scores on three scales: Emotional exhaustion, Cynicism, and Professional efficacy. Multiple regressions were conducted where each burnout scale was the criterion and stressors (e.g., amount of work, use of generic workers to do nurses' work), restructuring effects, social support, and individual resources (e.g., control coping, self-efficacy, prior organizational commitment) were predictors. There were differences in the amount of variance accounted for in the burnout components by stressors and resources. Stressors contributed most to emotional exhaustion and least to professional efficacy. Individual resources were more likely to contribute to professional efficacy and least to emotional exhaustion. Stressors and resources accounted for approximately equal amounts of variance in cynicism. Three conclusions were drawn. First, present findings parallel others by showing that individual coping patterns contribute to professional efficacy. Second, emotional exhaustion was found to be the prototype of stress. Third, prior organizational commitment, self-efficacy, and control coping resulted in lower burnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which examined work-family conflict (WFC), family-work conflict (FWC) and psychological burnout among nursing staff during hospital restructuring. Information on restructuring and downsizing in health care; Predictors of WFC and FWC; Predictors of psychological burnout components.

Discusses the effects of burnout on health. Definition of burnout; Relationship between burnout and gender; Association of burnout with employment trends.

Presents a study that examined the role played by job mobility options and financial resources among nursing staff during a period of major hospital restructuring and downsizing. Overview of the restructuring and downsizing in health care.

This paper examines the relationship between workload, burnout and somatization in nurses. The respondents consisted of 1363 nurses employed in hospitals, which were undergoing extensive restructuring. Results of structural equation analyses showed that workload was positively related to emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion led to cynicism and somatization, and cynicism was negatively related to nurses' professional efficacy. Implications of the results for nursing practice are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined relationships between hospital restructuring and downsizing stressors, work-family and family-work conflict, job and family satisfaction and psychological well-being. Data were collected from 686 hospital-based nurses, the vast majority women, using anonymous questionnaires. Two research models hypothesizing both direct and indirect effects among these variables were tested using LISREL. Considerable support was found for these models. Restructuring and downsizing stressors had significant relationships with work-family conflict but not family-work conflict. Work-family conflict and family-work conflict, in turn, had significant relationships with psychological health. These results indicate that those responsible for the implementation of organizational restructuring and downsizing must be sensitive to the larger family and community effects of these initiatives. Fortunately, a growing body of literature on best practice provides considerable guidance on how to more effectively plan and manage these transitions. Este estudio examina relaciones entre estresores relacionados a la reestructuracion y la reduccion de hospitales, el conflicto trabajo-familia y el conflicto familia-trabajo, la satisfaccion laboral y familiar, y el bienestar sicologico. Utilizando cuestionarios anonimos, se recopilaron datos de 686 enfermeros, la gran mayoria de ellos mujeres, con base en hospitales, Se utilizo LISREL para poner a prueba dos modelos de investigacion que plantearon como hipotesis efectos directos e indirectos entre estas variables. Se encontro considerable apoyo para estos modelos. Los estresores, reestructuracion y reduccion, se relacionaron significamente con el conflicto trabajo-familia pero no con el conflicto familia-trbajo. A su vez, el conflicto trabajo-familia y el conflicto familia-trabajo se relacionaron significamente con el bienestar sicologico. Estos resultados indican que los responsables de la implementacion de la reestructuracion y reduccion organizativas deben estar muy conscientes de los efectos familiares y comunitarias de estas iniciativas. Afortunadamente, una literatura cada vez mayor sobre la mejor practica nos proporciona consejos importantes sobre como mejor planificar y dirigir estas transiciones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which examined the effects of perceived hospital and union support on work satisfaction and psychological well-being of nursing staff during a period of hospital restructuring and downsizing. Methodology of the study; Results and discussion on the study.

Examines downsizing and restructuring within a stress-and-coping framework. Psychological effects of downsizing; Discussion on individual resources, stress and downsizing; Overview on social support and downsizing.

Examines the effects of hospital restructuring and downsizing on the employment of the nursing staff in Canada. Description and responses of the less tenured nursing staff; Implications of the situation on hospital administration and the nursing profession; Impact of the retirement of longer tenured nursing staff on the nursing availability.

Deals with a study which examined the psychological reactions of nurses in response to stressors resulting from hospital downsizing. Psychological impact of the nurse's workload; Method; Results; Discussion.

This study examines the relationship between hospital restructuring, psychosomatic reactions, anger and hostility in nurses. Scales assessed extent of hospital restructuring. Anger was assessed using the State–Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) Scales. Results suggested that restructuring is a stressful and anger-provoking experience which increases with more restructuring initiatives. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the relationship among organizational functioning and psychological variables in a sample of managers. Interrelations among individual difference, demographic and organizational factors; Higher qualifications for women; Psychological and organizational implications of marriage and family which vary with gender; Different function of social support for men and women.

Examines a research model developed to understand psychological burn out among school-based educators. Identification of predictor variables; Work stressors as strong predictors; Teaching as a stressful occupation; Effects of various panels of variables in models of occupational stress; Respondents; Effects of social support, individual and organizational coping efforts.

The present study examined gender-related differences in the ways social support and coping contribute to burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Specific hypotheses were made regarding relationships between antecedent conditions and MBI subscales, including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. Respondents were teachers, and data from 2 waves ( l year apart) were examined. Using LISREL structural equation analyses, results were that in women, co-worker support led to lower emotional exhaustion, and in men, supervisor and co-worker support led to higher personal accomplishment. Higher levels of internal control were associated with greater accomplishment in men only. Results were discussed from a gender role perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author offers a commentary on the article "Money Matters: Recommendations for Financial Stress Research in Occupation Health Psychology," by R. R. Sinclair and J. H. Cheung which appeared in a previous issue. Topics include how research which is both cross-national and interdisciplinary can enhance knowledge about financial stress, subgroups that are affected by financial stress, and the need to consider the psychological resources that the individual has to cope with.

The present study tested the extent to which perceived economic hardship is associated with psychological distress (suicide ideation and confusion) after controlling for personal characteristics. It also explored whether perceived financial threat (i.e., fearful anxious-uncertainty about the stability and security of one’s personal financial situation) mediates the relationship between economic hardship and psychological distress outcomes. The theoretical model was tested in a sample of Canadian students (n = 211) and was validated in a community sample of employed Portuguese adults (n = 161). In both samples, the fit of the model was good. Parameter estimates indicated that greater experience of economic hardship increased with financial threat, which in turn increased with levels of suicide ideation and confusion. We discuss the practical implications of these results, such as for programs aimed at alleviating the burden of financial hardship, in our concluding remarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation examined whether trait variables (empathy, global social responsibility) and perceived human responsibility predict and interact to predict people's helping of natural-disaster victims. In Study 1, participants completed a questionnaire and read one of two bogus earthquake reports which portrayed victims as either prepared or unprepared for a foreseeable earthquake. In Study 2, participants completed a questionnaire about the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Across studies, helping was best elicited from high-empathy individuals who attributed responsibility for disasters to human actions (e.g., government), not natural phenomena (e.g., hurricane). Trait variables correlated with helping when assessed individually, but accounted for little unique variance in helping in multiple regression analyses. Judgment of human responsibility predicted helping when participants were familiar with the target disaster (Study 2) but did not predict helping when the disaster was unfamiliar (Study 1). Theoretical implications for researchers and practical implications for aid agencies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we address the three general themes that emerged from the commentary articles regarding our target article. These were: (1) victim culpability; (2) the nature of the empathy-helping relation, and; (3) victim characteristics that influence helping rates. For each topic, we review overarching concerns made in the commentaries, any ideas that these authors proposed, and our response or perspective on each topic. As the commentaries were rich in content and broad in scope, we could not address each and every concern individually. This article addresses only what we considered to be the big-picture issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present the Hindi adaptation of Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI). All the 55 items were translated into Hindi by independent translators. A consensus version (moderation) of these translations was developed looking at the language and cultural suitability of the words. Thereafter, backward translations of the moderated version were performed to check semantic discrepancies. After measuring item equivalence, we standardized the Hindi version of PCI on a representative sample of senior citizens. Contrary to the proposition of the original scale, a fourteen factor solution emerged out of the factor analysis. The factor structure and reliability coefficients were compared between the original PCI and the Hindi version of PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a study which examined whether a perceived self-efficacy can be measured as part of an interactive computer session while surfing the Internet. Measurement of generalized perceived self-efficacy in different cultures; Method: Results; Discussion.

In 2015, two universities in Toronto, Canada experienced simultaneous labor strikes. As much as possible, one institution proceeded as normal, whereas the other canceled academic activities. A mixed-methods approach (focus group and online survey) was adopted to explore and compare how students were affected at each university and how to better shield students from these effects. Results identified negative effects of the strike at both institutions but indicated that students whose activities were canceled experienced a more negative impact including greater psychological distress, apathy toward their studies, and financial concern. Recommendations for the handling of future work stoppages are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Social support moderated the association between financial threat-mental health. • Social support moderated the association between economic hardship-mental health. • Social support did not moderate the relation between well-being and mental health. Abstract The economic crisis had a detrimental impact on the economies of several European countries, namely in Portugal. The literature emphasizes that periods of economic turmoil potentiate the appearance of mental health issues, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, and decrease populations’ well-being. The present study, conducted in Portugal, was performed with a sample of 729 individuals, 33.9% males and 66.1% females, with an average age of 36.99 years old. Its’ aim was to assess the relationship between economic stress factors (economic hardship, financial threat, and financial well-being) and stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as to test the moderating effect of social support on this relationship. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the relationships defined. When comparing the results obtained in the models without and with social support as a moderator, statistically significant differences were observed on the relationships between financial threat and depression and between economic hardship and stress, anxiety, and depression. Regarding the association between financial threat and stress and anxiety, the effect of the economic stressor decreased in the presence of social support, but the differences were not statistically significant. The implications of these results are discussed and strategies to foster social support are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2008, there has been a decline in the economy of several European countries, including Portugal. In the literature, it is emphasized that periods of economic uncertainty propitiate the appearance of mental health problems and diminish populations' well-being. The aim of the present study, with 729 Portuguese participants, 33.9% (n=247) males and 66.1% (n=482) females with an average age of 37 years old (M=36.99; SD=12.81), was to examine the relationship between economic hardship, financial threat, and financial well-being (i.e., economic stressors) and stress, anxiety, and depression (i.e., psychological health indicators), as well as to test the moderation effect of coping in the aforementioned relationship. To achieve these goals, a cross-sectional design was implemented and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the obtained data. Our results underline that coping affects the relationship between economic stressors and psychological health since subjects with lower coping levels are more vulnerable to economic stress factors than those with higher coping levels. The moderation effect was more evident in the relationships between economic hardship and stress, anxiety, and depression. The main implications of this study are presented, as well as its' limitations and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although random responding is prevalent and increases Type II errors, most psychologists avoid trying to identify it because the means to do so are extremely limited. We propose the inter-item standard deviation (ISD), a statistical index of response variance, is suited for this task. We hypothesized that random responders produce large ISDs because they respond to items all over a measure’s response range, whereas conscientious responders produce small ISDs because they respond to items more consistently. We administered a questionnaire containing the NEO-FFI-3 and an embedded validity scale to 134 university students. Another 134 responders were created using a random number generator. For all 268 responders, the ISD was calculated for each of the NEO-FFI-3′s five subscales and an aggregated ISD was calculated by averaging the five ISD indexes. Results showed that (1) random responders produce significantly larger ISDs than conscientious responders, (2) the ISDs were strongly correlated with the embedded validity scale and with one another, and (3) the ISDs correctly identified responders with greater than 80% classification accuracy. The mean ISD yielded greater than 95% classification accuracy. This study shows that responders can be identified by quantifying inter-item response variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to adapt the Proactive Coping Inventory to a Hungarian language context, and to evaluate its psychometric properties. The psychometric characteristics of the Hungarian version of the Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI-H) were examined, based on the data of 452 individuals (mean age= 25.84). Self-report questionnaires were filled out: Proactive Coping Inventory and the short version of the Beck Depression Inventory. In this paper we will present results referring to the reliability of the PCI-H subscales (Cronbach’s alpha= .71 to .86), the construct validity of the inventory and the item analysis. We will also present the results of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), which was conducted to test the fit of the original theoretically derived seven-factor structure of the PCI-H. The result of the factor analysis identified seven scales of the inventory (χ2/df= 1.870; CFI= .855; TLI=.845 RMSEA=.045; SRMR=.0678). Overall, the results of this validation study are highly promising. The subscales of the PCI have good reliability and construct validity, moreover the results of the CFA verify that the seven-factor model represents the original factor structure of PCI in an appropriate way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper brings the preliminary results of the study (N = 87), the goal of which was to describe the psychological factors applying in the contexts of contemporary economic recession. The economic recession was operationalized by the data of unemployment rate at the time of study. Its impact was assessed by methods designated for capturing the financial strain. These economic variables show the closest relations to mental states. The strongest relation was found between perceived economic threat and the rate of fatigue, hostility and anxiety (POMS). Cognitive factors or personality characteristics applied in the context of economic variables only marginally and social (transactional) characteristics (social support) did not apply at all. The cognitive factors (ruminative thoughts), personality characteristics (self-esteem, proactive coping) and social characteristics (social support) however applied in the relation to job variables (job satisfaction and employability). The possibility of generalization of the results of the study is limited by the scope and heterogeneity of the research sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the positive value of women's interpersonal way of coping by examining coping benefits on distress depending on gender socialization in the Spanish cultural context. The participants were 332 men and 129 women employed by financial companies. Preliminary results showed that women used social support coping more frequently than men, whereas there were no gender differences in the use of direct action coping. Interactive effects of gender in the relationship between coping strategies and distress and psychosomatic complaints were found; social support coping was only beneficial for women, whereas direct action coping was more beneficial for men than for women. Implications of these results and their significance within the framework of national and sector cultures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the psychological impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) by exploring the coping strategies and health behaviors enacted in response to the SARS epidemic. Hierarchical linear regression indicated that the use of wishful thinking in response to the threat of SARS was related to both avoiding public places and avoiding people perceived to be possible carriers of the SARS virus, but was not associated with the use of more adaptive health behaviors, such as using disinfectants and hand washing. Conversely, those who reported engaging in empathic responding in response to the threat of SARS were both less likely to report avoiding people perceived as being at a high risk for SARS and more likely to report engaging in effective health behaviors. Support seeking was not a significant predictor of the health behaviors examined in the present study. Results are discussed in terms of coping with health threats and health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]