Papers from the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conferences
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
Comparing state anxiety and mental resilience among people living in their country of origin and emigrants abroad may reveal if they have different experiences of negative emotional states, as well as different resources for coping with changes in everyday life brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were 142 Bulgarians living in Bulgaria during COVID-19 pandemic and 142 Bulgarians living in different countries abroad, whose age varied from 21 to 44 years old. The study was conducted online by means of Qualtrics applying Spielberger’s State Anxiety Scale and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale CD-RISC2. State anxiety was significantly lower (t(282) = 3.242, p = .001) in Bulgarians living in their country of origin (M = 40.39; SD = 10.58) than in Bulgarians living abroad (M = 44.82; SD = 12.34) during COVID-19 pandemic. Mental resilience was significantly higher (F Levene = 8.298, p Levene = .004, t(272) = 7.522, p < .001) in Bulgarians living in their country of origin (M = 5.96; SD = 1.41) than in Bulgarians living abroad (M = 4.80; SD = 1.16). Higher state anxiety of emigrated people than state anxiety of people living in their country of origin may mean more vulnerability to mental health disorders during COVID-19 pandemic in the host country than in the home country that may be related to some adaptation difficulties. Higher mental resilience in the home country may be due to the stronger sense of belonging to one’s own community in the country of origin, more sources of social support and sharing of more resources with the community and family members in the home country, better mastery of the native language that may increase perceived self-efficacy in the country of origin compared with a host country. Higher mental resilience of people living in their country of origin than mental resilience of emigrated people may mean better coping and adaptation to the changes in the way in life during COVID-19 pandemic in the home country than in a host country.
ScholarWorks Citation
Stoyanova, S. (2024). Mental Resilience and State Anxiety in Bulgarians Living in their Country of Origin or Abroad During COVID-19 Pandemic. In E. E. Buchtel & W. Friedlmeier (Eds.), Year of the Golden Jubilee: Culture Change in the Past, Present and Future. Proceedings from the 26th Congress of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.4087/RWKS2555
