News Detail

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on subjective experiences and behaviour among large parts of the population. This is the interim result arrived at by an international study conducted by the WageIndicator Foundation, researchers worldwide and the iScience working group led by University of Konstanz psychologist Professor Ulf-Dietrich Reips.

Since April 2020, the researchers have conducted research into how the global COVID-19 pandemic affects the experiences and behaviour of 5000 participants so far. The first results, which are based on data from more than 140 countries, clearly suggest an increase in perceived inequality since the beginning of the crisis, with participants both in Germany and abroad reporting considerable changes.

Perceived inequality increases
“As the answers provided by the German respondents clearly show, inequality seems to have increased significantly and over a short period of time”, says Ulf-Dietrich Reips, Professor of Psychological Methods, Assessment and iScience at the University of Konstanz. 27 percent of the participants stated that the individual workload was lower because of COVID-19, whereas almost as many (21 percent) said that their workload had in fact increased. Three percent of the German participants reported that they had lost their jobs. 47 percent said that they are forced to work from home, with 40 percent of this group feeling restricted in fulfilling their job requirements.

Global trends
Global trends also show a significant influence of COVID-19 on living conditions: 48 percent of the international study participants currently stay at home due to the pandemic. On average, they share a household averaging 3.7 rooms (excluding the bathroom) with two other people. One third of all respondents fear a loss of income in the next month. Most European participants said that they were satisfied with protective measures in the workplace. However, the same is not true for citizens in France, Ireland and Spain.

“Overall, these interim results are very promising”, declares Reips. “Our next goal will be to conduct further analyses with even more differentiated evaluations which can then be used for future studies and recommendations for action in connection with the coronavirus pandemic”.

Facts:

• International study with participation of the Experimental Psychology and Internet Science (iScience) research group at the University of Konstanz shows an increase in perceived inequality in work life.
• For instance, three percent of the German respondents reported to have lost their jobs. Internationally, one third said they feared a loss of income. Across Europe, the study revealed significant differences in regard to protective measures in the workplace: While most Europeans said that they were satisfied, workers in France, Ireland and Spain said that they were not.
• Detailed interim results, diagrams and graphs are available on the following website and may be used freely for journalistic purposes.
• You can participate in the “Living and Working during Coronavirus” at: http://iscience.uni.kn/corona