Constant vigilance: Heritage values and defensive pessimism in coping with severe acute respiratory syndrome in Singapore

The present study investigates the congruency of defensive pessimism in the Asian context and its role in coping with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis in Singapore. Data collected from 174 Singaporeans supported the hypothesized relationships among Chinese values, defensive pessimism, SARS‐related fears, compliance to preventive health‐related behaviors and negative outcomes. Path analysis revealed that individuals’ endorsement of Chinese value clusters − prudence, industry, and civic harmony − positively predicted their levels of defensive pessimism. The results also indicated that defensive pessimism had a direct positive effect on SARS‐related fears and, SARS‐related fears, in turn, were directly related to direct preventive health‐related behaviors but not related to indirect preventive behaviors. In addition to the indirect effect of Chinese values on direct preventive health‐related behaviors, Chinese values had a direct positive effect on both direct and indirect preventive health‐related behaviors. Consistent with our contention that defensive pessimism has the potential for leading to particular negative outcomes, defensive pessimism was found to influence negative outcomes but this relationship was partially mediated by SARS‐related fears.