Interconnectedness Is Associated with a Greater Sense of Civic Duty and Collective Action Participation through Transcendental Awareness and Compassion during COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has a unprecedented impact on the way individuals make sense of the interconnected nature of themselves in relation to the world. This study investigated the mediating role of transcendental awareness and compassion in the association of interconnectedness with a sense of civic duty and collective action participation during COVID-19 using a longitudinal design. A total of 336 young adult participants were recruited at baseline and were asked to complete measures of interconnectedness, transcendental awareness, compassion, civic duty, and collective action participation at three time points over a 6-month period. Path analysis was used to test the hypothesized mediation model. The results showed that compassion fully mediated the positive association between interconnectedness and collective action participation and partially mediated the positive association between interconnectedness and civic duty. Transcendental awareness also partially mediated the positive association between interconnectedness and civic duty but not collective action participation. This study highlighted the potential of interconnectedness in promoting civic duty and engagement in collective action through transcendental awareness and compassion during the COVID-19 pandemic.