Social and behavioural responses during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In this paper we report results from an online study conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (May 2020). The study examined a range of social and behavioural responses by youth from different ethnic backgrounds and across 63 cities (N = 569). More specifically, the study focused on investigating the relationship between threat perceptions, public health behaviours, stress and social cohesion. As expected, results indicate that higher perceptions of threat were related to higher compliance to safety and health measures despite extremely extremely low levels of political trust. Surprisingly, participants reported relatively low levels of stress despite high social isolation and physical restrictions. These results could partially be explained by an increased level of family interactions. Furthermore, participants reported relatively high levels of social cohesion and common-ingroup identification in a usually segregated and conflict-ridden context.