Are there three subtypes of social distancing? : A longitudinal investigation of physical distancing, social contact limitations, and emotional distancing
(2025) European Journal of Health Psychology — Vol. 32, n° 3, p. 148-164 (2025)
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- Authors
Sadeghi-Bahmani, Dena 
Schmitz
- Abstract
- Background: Social distancing is often used as something of a catch-all category without clear definitions of its subtypes. Aims: We propose that social distancing has three subtypes: physical distancing, social contact limitations, and emotional distancing. Method: To test this hypothesis, we employed a longitudinal design to analyze the trajectories of social distancing subtypes over a period of 8 months during the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 6,026). Three years after the main survey, we recontacted the same participants, asking whether they would be willing to re-adopt social distancing measures in the context of a new pandemic (N = 841). Results: First, using a confirmatory factor analysis, we demonstrated that these subtypes are related but distinct constructs. Second, using group-based trajectory modeling, we identified trajectories of individuals following persistently low, moderate-low, moderate-high, and high levels of social distancing subtypes over time. Trajectories of physical distancing and social contact limitations were highly similar and decreased over time, whereas trajectories of emotional distancing were significantly different from the other two subtypes and showed stability. Importantly, we found sociodemographic and mental health indicators distinguishing these trajectories. Finally, we found that emotional distancing exhibited a stronger and more consistent association with social contact limitations than with physical distancing across studies. Conclusion: This study proposes a refined taxonomy of social distancing, highlighting the distinct subtypes of physical distancing, social contact limitations, and emotional distancing (see items in the Appendix). This new taxonomy has been both conceptually and statistically validated in the present paper and can assist other experts in assessing the construct of social distancing more accurately in future studies.
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Citations
Wollast, R., Sadeghi-Bahmani, D., Schmitz, Bigot, A., Gross, J. J., & Luminet, O. (2025). Are there three subtypes of social distancing? : A longitudinal investigation of physical distancing, social contact limitations, and emotional distancing. European Journal of Health Psychology, 32(3), 148-164. https://doi.org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000179 (Original work published 2025)