Dominate others, hurt self: Social dominance orientation predicts depression during the COVID-19 pandemic

Jiaxin Shi; Zhansheng Chen; Xijing Wang; Fei Teng; Ying Yang; Hao Chen

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.110710

Dominate others, hurt self: Social dominance orientation predicts depression during the COVID-19 pandemic

Pers Individ Dif. 2021 Jun:175:110710. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.110710. Epub 2021 Jan 31.

Authors

Jiaxin Shi¹, Zhansheng Chen¹, Xijing Wang¹, Fei Teng², Ying Yang^{3

4}, Hao Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
² School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁵ Department of Social Psychology, Nankai University, China.

Abstract

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic threatens physical and psychological health. We examined whether social dominance orientation (SDO), a preference for inequality among social groups, contributes to mental health during the pandemic. In particular, we predicted that people high in SDO would experience higher levels of depression than others low in SDO. Our results (N = 2008) showed that SDO was positively associated with depression. In addition, participants' perceived lifestyle changes moderated the association between SDO and depression. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the current work.

Keywords: COVID-19; Depression; Lifestyle change; Mental health; Social dominance orientation.