Psychological Consequences France's First Lockdowns: Individual differences and affective experience

Introduction. - The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures instituted by the French government to limit the virus spread, such as lockdowns or curfews, have drastically limited the freedoms and changed the way of living among French population. What is the short-term psychological impact of these measures and who are the most emotionally affected in France? Aim. - The aim of this article is to highlight the importance of individual differences to understand difficulties in affective experiences during the lockdown periods by identifying distinctly positive and negative affects and activation level. 2367 French inhabitants completed a set of questionnaires via Qualtrics between March 20 and 30, 2020. The questionnaires assess affects with the MAVA (Measure of Affectivity: Valence/Activation, Congard et al., 2011), life situations and sociodemographic data. Descriptive analysis and multiple regressions were conducted using R software. Results and conclusion. - The results show affect dysregulations (increase in negative affect) during the first week of lockdown. Women are more affected by COVID-19 and the lockdown compared to men. Results also indicate that unemployed participants and people who live in the smallest housing conditions show the most affective dysregulation during the first week of lockdown. Exposure to COVID-risk is the variable that most predicts poor negative affective regulation. During this first week of confinement, knowing someone with COVID-19 or having contracted it oneself is thus a factor of vulnerability in the regulation of affects. We discuss these results and their psychosocial implications. (c) 2022 Societe Francaise de Psychologie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.