Adverse Conditions, Psychological Aspects, and Teachers' Tendency Toward Sustainability and a Less Conservative Future

Ilaria Di Maggio; Maria Cristina Ginevra; Sara Santilli; Laura Nota

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.843258

Adverse Conditions, Psychological Aspects, and Teachers' Tendency Toward Sustainability and a Less Conservative Future

Front Psychol. 2022 Jul 11:13:843258. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.843258. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ilaria Di Maggio¹, Maria Cristina Ginevra¹, Sara Santilli¹, Laura Nota¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy.

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effect of cognitive priming linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, through state anxiety and personal need for structure, on teachers' tendency toward sustainability and teachers' tendency toward a conservative socio-economic vision. We involved a sample of 984 Italian teachers, and by manipulating the saliency of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that the saliency of the COVID-19 pandemic positively impacted state anxiety and that state anxiety impacted teachers' tendency toward sustainability both directly and indirectly through the mediational role of the personal need for structure. Finally, we found that state anxiety only indirectly through the personal need for structure impacted teachers' tendency toward a conservative socio-economic vision.

Keywords: COVID-19; personal need for structure; propensity toward a more conservative socio-economic vision; propensity toward sustainability; state anxiety; teachers.