This master’s thesis examines the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic through the prism of attachment style and demographic characteristics of individuals. Attachment is a fundamental emotional bond between an individual and their primary caretaker, formed from early childhood. Early experience plays a key role in the formation of neural connections in the brain, which affects an individual’s ability to regulate emotions, social interactions, and form relationships throughout life. The quality of attachment plays one of the key roles in the development of an individual’s response to stressful situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the theoretical part, the theory of attachment is defined in more detail, important founders and researchers in this field are presented, different styles of attachment and their connections with personality traits, intelligence, personal flexibility, empathy and mentalization are described. Subsequently, much attention is devoted to studying the understanding of people’s responses to the pandemic, including attitudes towards vaccines, government actions taken, and individual’s psycho-emotional responses.
The empirical part presents the results of quantitative research carried out during the second wave of the epidemic in Slovenia. In the research, 170 people participated and the answers were obtained by means of a questionnaire. Based on the results, it was found that attachment style and education play a strong role in the perception of the pandemic, with securely attached and highly educated individuals believing more in its real existence. Higher educated people are considered more conscientious and more inclined to comply with the measures taken; in particular, there was a greater incline for wearing face masks. The results also show that more participants are reluctant to get vaccinated. Participants aged 41 and over showed the highest level of trust.
The research, in essence, provides insight into the complex response of individuals to one of the greatest global crises of modern times and can thus help with future planning of responses to similar global phenomena.
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