Anchored on the Ecological Systems Theory, this study aimed to determine how psychological distress operates as an underlying mechanism in the impact of socio‐ecological factors on the quality of ...life of Filipino adults during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) crisis. A cross‐sectional online survey was conducted to assess perceptions of 401 adults on socio‐ecological factors (i.e., safety at home, trust in public institutions, and financial difficulties), psychological distress, and quality of life during the early phase of COVID‐19 community quarantine in the Philippines. Using latent variable path analysis, all three socio‐ecological factors have significant direct effects on both psychological distress and quality of life. More importantly, the proposed model was confirmed in terms of a significant partial mediation of psychological distress on the impact of safety at home, trust in public institutions, and financial difficulties on the quality of life of Filipino adults. The study offers novel insights into the role of psychological distress as an underlying mechanism that operates on the influence of socio‐ecological factors on the quality of life of adults during a global health crisis. Implications on psychological interventions and policies in preventing mental health problems vis‐à‐vis improving Filipinos' quality of life during the COVID‐19 pandemic are discussed.
The present study examined the socio-ecological factors that influenced psychological distress (combined index of depression and anxiety symptoms) among Filipino adults during the COVID-19 crisis. ...The study involved 401 adult participants currently residing in the Philippines. Data were collected using a self-reported online questionnaire administered to the participants. Findings revealed that one individual level factor, such as individual resilience, and two family level factors, such as safety at home and being a parent, negatively influenced psychological distress. On the other hand, a family level factor, family’s financial difficulties, positively predicted psychological distress. Societal level factor such as national resilience, but not the community level factor, community resilience, positively predicted psychological distress in Filipino adults. Findings identified individual resilience, national resilience, and financial difficulties as the strongest predictors of psychological distress among Filipino adults during the COVID-19 crisis. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.
The Philippines is the third‐largest contributor to plastic waste, which is an urgent global problem that cannot be addressed without individual and collective behaviour changes. In two studies, the ...present research examined the antecedents of intention to reduce plastic use in the Philippines. Using a cross‐sectional online survey, Study 1 (N = 245) investigated the influence of attitudes, perceived behavioural control, two types of norms (descriptive and prescriptive norms), gender, and the interaction effect between descriptive norms and gender on Filipinos’ intention to reduce plastic use. Latent variable path analysis revealed that attitudes, perceived behavioural control, prescriptive norms, but not descriptive norms, and gender (and their interaction), significantly predicted plastic reduction intention. Explicating the non‐significant prediction of descriptive norms and gender in Study 1, a 2 (low descriptive versus high descriptive norms) × 2 (males versus females) between‐subjects experiment was conducted in Study 2 (N = 280) to investigate the interaction between descriptive norms and gender on intention to reduce plastic use. Results revealed a significant interaction effect, with descriptive norms fostering intention to reduce plastic use among males, but not among females. Implications for policies towards environmental sustainability in non‐Western countries are discussed.
Resilience is a broad concept that encompasses individual and social resources to thrive from difficult circumstances. The resilience that occurs as a collective effort or country‐wide phenomenon is ...referred to as national resilience (NR), which connotes the ability of a nation to deal with crises while keeping its social fabric intact. Like the rest of the world, the Philippines has been greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and we argue that a stable and robust NR is needed to bounce back from the challenges and adversities of the crisis. This pioneering study on NR in Filipino adults was conducted to achieve two aims (1) assess the psychometric properties of the Filipino adapted National Resilience Scale (NRS‐Filipino) and (2) determine demographic and psychological variables that influence NR. Data from 401 participants yielded an exploratory factor analysis with a good model fit for a four‐factor solution that is similar to the original National Resilience Assessment Scale. NRS‐Filipino also demonstrated acceptable reliability and convergent validity. Among the variables purported to be associated with NR, community resilience, and political attitude came out as strong predictors.
It is believed that about 90% of the land area in the Philippines was once covered with forests. Today, Philippine forests have decreased to <20% due to deforestation and urbanization, and it is ...projected that the near annihilation of the forests in the country could happen within the next decades if the present rate of deforestation continues. Consequently, changes in people’s values brought about by urbanization and the national drive for economic progress were associated with surges in mental health problems and reduced well-being. Drawing from the Eco-Existential Positive Psychology Perspective and the Biophilia Hypothesis, the present study examined the mediating role of meaning in life as a mechanism that facilitates the influence of nature connectedness and materialism on well-being among persons from the Philippines. Parallel mediation models were tested using 589 participants. Results showed that both presence of meaning and search for meaning in life mediated the positive association between nature connectedness and well-being. On the other hand, presence of meaning, but not search for meaning, mediated the negative association between materialism and well-being. The results of the present study advanced our understanding of how satisfaction of one’s need to affiliate with nature and materialism contribute to well-being in the Philippine context. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Environmental sustainability does not only involve the environmental behaviors of the present generation, but more importantly, it requires understanding how the future generations will interact with ...the natural environment. The overarching goal of this study was to investigate a serial mediation model showing the mediating role of social responsibility on the intergenerational transmission (i.e., from parents to their adolescent children) of nature relatedness, and how this transmission influences adolescents’ green purchase intention in a non-Western country like the Philippines. Data were collected from 449 Filipino parent-adolescent dyads through an online administration of self-report measures. As a preliminary step to the examination of intergenerational transmission of nature relatedness, measurement invariance of the Nature Relatedness Scale (NR-6) was conducted. Findings revealed that the NR-6 is a valid, reliable, and invariant tool in assessing Filipino adults’ and adolescents’ sense of connection with nature. Path analysis through structural equation modeling confirmed the serial mediation model demonstrating that social responsibility mediated the parent-adolescent transmission of nature relatedness, leading to adolescents’ greater green purchase intention. The study offers novel findings with important implications for research, parenting, and policies toward environmental sustainability.
PDF
