Stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany

BMC Public Health

Joke M. Debbeler¹  Harald T. Schupp¹  Kim M. Koppe¹  Isabel Brünecke¹  Vanessa C. Radtke¹  Kai D. Engel¹  Hannah Oppenheimer¹  Nadine C. Lages¹  Sarah Rogula¹  Robin Kaufmann¹  Sofia Grieble¹  Karoline Villinger¹  Britta Renner¹  Johanna Stähler¹  Peer C. Homann¹  Julia E. Koller¹ 

[1] University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany;

关键词: Stigmatization;    Stigma;    Coronavirus;    COVID-19;    SARS-CoV-2;    Pandemic;    Disease;    Threat;    Avoidance;    Pathogen;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-11270-1

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe outbreak and global spread of COVID-19 was accompanied by an increase in reports of stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people. The behavioral immune system provides a framework for stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats. Specifically, stigmatization might increase with rising levels of infectious disease threat. The present study aimed to examine this hypothesis during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsAs part of the “EUCLID” project (https://euclid.dbvis.de), a total of 5011 persons from Germany were surveyed via an online-questionnaire between February 2nd and April 3rd, 2020, covering the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic over three time periods which were defined by critical events.ResultsThere was no evidence for an increase in the stigmatization of Chinese and Asian-looking people across three topics, that is personal proximity, air travel, and medical measures upon arrival from China.ConclusionsThe present findings provide good news in that participants showed an adaptive response to the infectious disease threat rather than displaying increased stigmatization. Further research is necessary to specify the conditions that increase the risk of stigmatization in response to infectious disease threats.

【 授权许可】

CC BY