This study investigated doomsday prepping during the COVID pandemic to better understand global waves of resource hoarding and panic buying. We aimed to investigate the nature of preparatory beliefs and behaviors and the associated sociodemographic, psychopathology, and personality constructs. This is an area of key importance in the context of the current pandemic as there is limited research on what drives excessive stockpiling behaviors which have led to distress, conflict, and negative ramifications on daily living.
The overall sample reported fears of lockdown, seeing others stockpile, and fears of getting sick as their most common reasons for stockpiling due to COVID, showing the importance of feared future outcomes to hoarding and panic-buying. Males reported stockpiling due to COVID at significantly higher rates than females and had higher scores on measures of doomsday prepping beliefs and behaviors.
Similarly, traditional masculinity traits correlated positively with all prepping measures. These are novel findings in the literature which are somewhat consistent with previous findings of links between prepping beliefs, social dominance orientation, and competitiveness Fetterman et al.
We assessed self-reported levels and reasons for stockpiling during the pandemic, using a scale developed for the current study. Males reported being influenced to stockpile when observing others panic-buying at higher rates than females, suggesting social learning processes. Additionally, males were more likely to interpret the current pandemic as a doomsday scenario than were females.
Additionally, there were no gender differences in the measures of psychopathology anxiety, OCD-type symptoms, and IU. This suggests that higher prepping characteristics in males were related to personality traits seen in traditional masculinity, as well as social learning and catastrophic thinking. The findings of the link between traditional masculinity traits and prepping are perhaps not surprising, as traditional masculinity traits include being in control, in charge and not relying on others, all of which are conceptually related to self-sufficiency.
Traditional male traits may fuel competitiveness and a perceived need to compete for supplies and display an exaggerated self-reliance when confronted with images of others hoarding resources Zheng et al.
Prepping characteristics were positively related to anxiety, obsessive-compulsive-like symptoms, and intolerance of uncertainty. The relationship between prepping characteristics and anxiety may be explained by negative future-based thinking that is seen in anxious individuals Miranda and Mennin, which can be compared to the pessimistic outlook that serves as a foundation for prepping Fetterman et al.
In the context of the current pandemic, many people have lost their source of employment, social connections, and receive frequent reminders via the media of the negative ramifications of COVID such as shortages, social unrest, and economic fallout Horesh and Brown, In turn, this negative outlook may fuel beliefs in the need to prep Fetterman et al.
It was unclear how much prepping and obsessive-compulsive-like symptoms would relate, due to a lack of previous research. The OCD-symptom measure used in the current study examines symptoms that occur on a continuum related to alleviating intrusive thoughts about feared outcomes Foa et al. Its positive correlation with prepping measures suggests a potential overlap between intrusive thoughts, which may elevate beliefs in the need to prep.
Therefore, people may be attempting to soothe distress associated with these intrusive thoughts via prepping behaviors. The association between prepping characteristics and intolerance of uncertainty is consistent with research that suggests IU is related to fears in one's ability to cope with unpredictability Jensen et al. Furthermore, the positive association between anxiety and IU and prepping characteristics supports the propositions of TMT Greenberg et al.
As individuals feel uncertain about the future and receive a heightened number of death cues due to COVID, they may attempt to ease their existential anxiety through prepping behaviors such as stockpiling as it allows them to seek control over a chaotic environment Jonas et al. Stress, by definition is an appraisal of not having sufficient resources to cope with the demands of a situation, and therefore may be a catalyst for preparatory behaviors during the current pandemic.
Research during the SARS outbreak demonstrated how the crisis led to elevated levels of stress Yu et al. Next, we examined which psychological constructs predicted prepping. The variables were not all significant predictors across the different prepping measures. OCD-like symptoms were a significant predictor of all prepping measures.
Prepping may be interpreted as a coping mechanism to alleviate intrusive thoughts related to a post-apocalyptic world Jurgens et al. Preparing for feared future outcomes may temporarily ease anxiety, which then reinforces prepping behaviors like stockpiling when anxious cognitions arise. Traditional masculinity was also a significant predictor of all measures indicating that features of stereotypical hyper-masculinity like an exaggerated self-reliance may promote the evolution of prepping characteristics.
Traditional masculinity remained a significant predictor when gender was controlled for which further supports the argument that it is not merely males engaging in prepping actions but those who possess a greater degree of these stereotypical masculine traits like competitiveness and dominance. Age was a significant predictor of all prepping measures. This is a novel finding for the field of research.
Males in this sample not only reported higher prepping scores but were also significantly older than females. This raises the possibility that it is not traits of traditional masculinity alone accounting for males' greater prepping scores but perhaps also age, however multivariate regression analyses indicated that both male gender and age significantly accounted for unique variance in prepping scores. Finally, this study sought to understand which factors mediated the relationship between gender and stockpiling during the pandemic.
Social learning witnessing panic-buying and catastrophic thinking doomsday interpretations of the pandemic were found to significantly mediate the relationship between gender and stockpiling, however objective threat of COVID proximity and vulnerability did not. This suggests that males' greater stockpiling is associated with constructs other than rational risk appraisal, including catastrophic thinking related to COVID and a sense of competition with others for supplies.
This novel finding may explain why stockpiling has persisted even when risks reduce, and reassurances are given by authorities and suppliers. Observing others panic buying was a significant mediator for the relationship between gender and stockpiling indicating that social learning has a substantial impact on preparatory responses during COVID This finding supports the research of Zheng et al.
Stockpiling may manifest through observational learning which is mediated through motivations. For example, the motivation to suppress feelings of fear that are produced through catastrophic thinking Bandura, This finding signifies the importance of group interactions in shaping responses to a crisis, which is consistent with the research of Abdulkareem et al.
These findings convey that prepping beliefs and behaviors may be fuelled by psychological factors other than objective threat and that social learning and catastrophic cognitions may be the root of some prepping behaviors. Additionally we examined a range of coping strategies during the unfolding health crisis. The most common reported strategies were socializing via technology, focusing on personal goals or hobbies, and looking for positives that emerged during the pandemic such as reductions in pollution.
Females socialized more via technology, spent more time with pets, and more frequently consulted a doctor than males. Males reported significantly more focusing on personal interests than females. Uptake of formal help, such as through health care professionals, was lower than other strategies, consistent with many pre-pandemic studies Thomas and Larkin, The current study's examination of COVID's impact has provided some of the first evidence of preparatory beliefs and behaviors in the context of a global pandemic and psychosocial correlates.
This study revealed that males and females have different prepping and coping responses during the pandemic, with males reporting higher rates of stockpiling. Additionally, stockpiling was related to psychopathology, catastrophic thinking, stress, anxiety, and traditionally male personality traits.
These findings can be informative to developing future strategies for communities in responding to a global crisis. The knowledge that peers are considerably influential in driving behavior in a crisis can be utilized to suppress undesirable behaviors like panic buying. Additionally, public information can target cognitive factors that exacerbate competition and catastrophising.
The current pandemic has led to global increases in prepping behaviors like stockpiling. The current results suggest that stereotypical aspects of masculinity such as dominance, competitiveness, and exaggerated self-reliance is associated with stockpiling behaviors.
These traits may be being nurtured in the current conditions of society as people put their own needs before others like we have observed throughout COVID Smith, Panic-buying may be ameliorated in environments that do not fuel these traditional hyper-masculine traits. An emphasis on togetherness may be a possible solution to encourage positive and self-aware behaviors.
As group interactions are paramount in shaping behavior during crises Abdulkareem et al. The current findings have the potential to frame prepping as a dysfunctional and maladaptive coping response to stress and fear Jurgens et al. These results show prepping was more related to personality traits, social learning, and doomsday interpretations than to levels of legitimate threat through proximity and vulnerability to the virus. Providing adequate public health guidance as well as mental health support during a crisis may aid in limiting hoarding behaviors.
Furthermore, Strategies to address these psychological factors could be provided during ongoing waves of the pandemic or future crises. The current study examined several unexplored areas in research thereby advancing our understanding of prepping characteristics. Previous research on prepping during pandemics is scarce and previous studies on doomsday prepping have failed to incorporate measures of psychopathology and rarely explore prepping in general samples.
This study has also developed a new measure of prepping and coping during a pandemic PCP-S which has provided insights into the reasons for pandemic prepping and stockpiling, other ways of coping and gender differences. This study also has a number of limitations. The new scale measuring prepping during the pandemic was developed rapidly to begin data collection during a rapidly evolving crisis, therefore further, studies are suggested to assess the psychometric properties of the scale, items and subscales.
There were more female participants, although this was controlled for in multivariate analyses. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to explore and replicate the results. The majority of the participants were young psychology students from Australia.
Because of the relatively small number of participants in other countries we were not able to make comparisons between countries. Additionally, participants self-selected to take part in the study, therefore they may not be representative of those who do not volunteer to participate in research.
Further studies are needed to assess the generalizability of the results to broader populations. The finding regarding age would suggest that higher rates of prepping beliefs and behaviors may have been reported in an older sample.
The relationship between age and prepping may be worth exploring further in future research. The study's cross-sectional design does not allow for causal interpretations to be made.
It is unclear if prepping beliefs and behaviors give rise to symptoms such as anxiety or if these variables increase the likelihood of prepping. Likewise, it may be the case that the spread of COVID triggered an increase in prepping and simultaneously an increase in these symptoms. The ambiguity of the direction of these findings may be resolved by future longitudinal research. Overall, research on doomsday prepping is limited and more research is required to understand the striking increase in panic-buying and stockpiling during the COVID pandemic.
This study has provided some of the first evidence that preparatory beliefs and behaviors during the pandemic are related to anxiety, obsessive-compulsive-like symptoms, intolerance of uncertainty, and traditional masculinity traits.
Additionally, males reported greater stockpiling of resources and prepping beliefs and behaviors than females. The study results suggest that stockpiling is fueled to a greater extent by seeing others stockpile, through a process of social learning, along with doomsday interpretations of COVID, than it is by actual proximity or vulnerability to infection.
Overall, these findings indicate that doomsday prepping in the context of the current pandemic is grounded less in rational concerns than observational learning, as well as psychological and personality characteristics interacting with chaotic environments that lead to catastrophic thinking and feelings of fear and uncertainty. The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation. NS had input into the study design, recruited participants, collected and analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript first draft.
ST conceived the study, revised and edited the manuscript, oversaw the design, analyses, and interpretation of results. All authors agreed on the manuscript final content. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Abdulkareem, S. Risk perception and behavioral change during epidemics: comparing models of individual and collective learning. Antony, M. Psychometric properties of the item and item versions of the depression anxiety stress scales in clinical groups and a community sample.
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Brain Behav. Immunity Health Bandura, A. Social Learning Theory , Vol. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-hall. Google Scholar. Boerma, Y. Obsessive compulsive disorder with and without hoarding symptoms: characterizing differences.
Carleton, R. Fearing the unknown: a short version of the intolerance of uncertainty scale. Anxiety Disord. Carver, C. PubMed Abstract Google Scholar. Cooper, C. Validity and reliability of the brief COPE in carers of people with dementia. Feather, N. Values, right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and ambivalent attitudes towards women.
Fetterman, A. On post-apocalyptic and doomsday prepping beliefs: a new measure, its correlates, and the motivation to prep. Foa, E. The obsessive-compulsive inventory: development and validation of a short version. Foels, R. Learning and unlearning the myths we are taught: gender and social dominance orientation. Sex Roles 50, — Fourtounas, A. Cognitive factors predicting checking, procrastination and other maladaptive behaviours: prospective versus Inhibitory Intolerance of Uncertainty.
But preppers, the apocalypse-minded group of folks who are perpetually preparing for any disaster scenario , and none in particular, are not phased by the worldwide COVID outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus.
Still, there are extra steps that both Charles and Walton said they are taking in this outbreak to stay healthy and sane. Here are the top science-backed pieces of advice we heard from the preppers. Maintaining a healthy diet is a great first defense against viral illness.
Malnutrition and nutrient deficiency hampers the immune systems of undernourished people, but so does obesity. Getting the right mix of healthy, wholesome foods in your diet rich in nutrients like zinc , copper, and various vitamins not only lowers your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease , but it can also help your body fight off more temporary infections and illnesses , like COVID There's no easier way to ensure you're getting adequate nutrients in your diet than by adding more fresh fruits and vegetables into the mix.
He recommends spinach, turmeric, and almonds. Our bodies can convert the carotenoids in spinach into vitamin A , derive anti-inflammatory circulation-boosting benefits from golden turmeric root, and gather lots of calcium, magnesium, and healthy fats from almonds.
Scientists still aren't sure, but there's some evidence that eating can be good for fighting viral infections, even if all you're craving in the sick bay is sugary donuts.
There is no debate about this one. Sleep is great for our immunity. When you haven't slept enough, it's harder for the body to fight off illnesses ranging from the common cold to cancer. According to one University of Washington study , even identical twins who sleep less than their look-alike siblings have more depressed immune function. Rather than emptying store shelves, preppers say that it's best to stock food, water, and other emergency supplies slowly and diligently.
Rotate out your older perishable goods, using them before they rot. Personally, he likes to keep Chef Boyardee on hand. Follow along with where illnesses are spreading , to know if there's an outbreak happening near you. But this is not a bunker built to hide citizens or to protect the politicians who ordered its construction. Although it was out of sight and out of mind to the average US citizen, it played a crucial role in a geopolitical agenda of extinction-level significance during the Cold War.
However, that was then. Preppers are the people who anticipate and attempt to adapt for what they see as probable or inevitable and impending conditions of calamity ranging from low-level crises to extinction-level events. It is designed for a community of up to 75 people to weather a maximum of five years inside a sealed, self-sufficient luxury habitat.
When the event passes, residents expect to be able emerge into the post-apocalyptic world PAW, in prepper parlance to rebuild society afresh. This article is part of Conversation Insights The Insights team generates long-form journalism derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges. I spent three years conducting ethnographic research with nearly preppers from six countries, including Australia, the UK, Germany, Thailand, Korea and the US.
Prior to prepping there was survivalism, a Cold War-era practice focused on practical approaches to potential cultural and environmental disasters. One of the primary concerns of survivalists was the possibility of nuclear war. This was a threat which they felt was brought about by scientists, elites and politicians willing to sacrifice citizens in the name of geopolitics. Many survivalists, as a result, were distrustful of heavy-handed government and globalisation — they often dodged taxes and the law while relying heavily on the perceived autonomy enshrined by the US constitution.
Kurt Saxon , the man who coined the term survivalism, advocated for armed revolution and wrote primers on how to create improvised weapons and munitions. Some survivalists, following his lead, became radicalised as they worked to cultivate self-sufficiency by breaking away from government oversight. In the s and s, the US government persecuted and prosecuted many survivalists in an effort to stamp out the movement, which by that time included up to 3 million Americans.
Their suppression gave rise to wider frustrations and further anti-government sentiment. Most preppers today, in contrast, take a distinctly defensive stance in an effort to distance themselves from the politics of early survivalists, focusing more on practicalities than partisan ideological debates.
Yet media-driven perceptions often paint crude portraits of them. Walking through the multi-million dollar Survival Condo, built with full planning permission from the State of Kansas, it is obvious that a lot has changed in a few short decades.
In , a crew of four men and four women locked themselves into see if they could survive in a closed system for two years. Hall, however, remained convinced he could improve on the model:. This is a completely closed system. People try to build systems like this on their farms and they get infiltrated by bugs…rain, and wind damage.
Hall said that his bunker was good practise for closed systems, such as space travel. Bunkers like Survival Condo, found as far afield as remote villages in Thailand , are distinctly private endeavours that seek to use renewable technologies to decrease dependence on state infrastructure.
This is a worldview steeped in dread about the speculative unknown. This fact reflects an obvious, and growing, unease about the future. Originally built during world war one to store munitions, these bunkers are now fast becoming the largest prepper community on Earth.
The system can filter 10, gallons of water a day into three electronically-monitored 25, gallon tanks. Power to the bunker is supplied by five different redundant systems — so, if one goes down, there are four backups. This is crucial, since as a life support system, losing power would kill everyone in the facility. Hall said:.
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