Observational studyScientific reports2021
Physical distancing and the perception of interpersonal distance in the COVID-19 crisis.
Observational study in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transmission of respiratory infectious diseases based on real close contact behavior in an emergency room.Infectious Disease Modelling · 2025Article
- Neural anticipation of virtual infection triggers an immune response.Nature neuroscience · 2025Article
- From Mandate to Choice: How Voluntary Mask Wearing Shapes Interpersonal Distance Among University Students After COVID-19.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Changes in interpersonal distance modulate social attention engagement: evidence from EEG alpha band suppression.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Reward system atrophy relates to heightened feelings of physical closeness in Alzheimer's disease.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Regulation of interpersonal distance in virtual reality: Implications for socio-emotional functioning in late adulthood.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Perception of interpersonal distance and social distancing before and during COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Airborne SARS-CoV2 virus exposure, interpersonal distance, face mask and perceived risk of infection.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Perceived interpersonal distance changes in young Taiwanese pre and post SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Perceived Interpersonal Distances: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Young Taiwanese and Young Southeast Asians during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Effects of Target Variables on Interpersonal Distance Perception for Young Taiwanese during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Refraining from interaction can decrease fear of physical closeness during COVID-19.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Social distancing between personal belongings during the COVID-19 pandemic.F1000Research · 2023Article
- Article
- Interdigitated Columnar Representation of Personal Space and Visual Space in Human Parietal Cortex.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2022Article
- Influence of tourists' well-being in the post-COVID-19 era: Moderating effect of physical distancing.Tourism management perspectives · 2022Article
- During the COVID-19 pandemic participants prefer settings with a face mask, no interaction and at a closer distance.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Wearing a Mask Shapes Interpersonal Space during COVID-19 Pandemic.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Information Dynamics of Electric Field Intensity before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been mandated to keep enlarged distances from others. We interviewed 136 German subjects over five weeks from the end of March to the end of April 2020 during the first wave of infections about their preferred interpersonal distance (IPD) before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the pandemic, subjects adapted to distance requirements and preferred a larger IPD. This enlarged IPD was judged to partially persist after the pandemic crisis. People anticipated keeping more IPD to others even if there was no longer any risk of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. We also sampled two follow-up measurements, one in August, after the first wave of infections had been flattened, and one in October 2020, at the beginning of the second wave. Here, we observed that IPD varied with the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 within Germany. Overall, our data indicated that adaptation to distance requirements might happen asymmetrically. Preferred IPD rapidly adapted in response to distance requirements, but an enlargement of IPD may partially linger after the COVID-19 pandemic-crisis. We discuss our findings in light of proxemic theory and as an indicator for socio-cultural adaptation beyond the course of the pandemic.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.