Abstract

Most families in Nigeria express fear at the emergence of the novel corona virus known as (COVID-19) pandemic. However, the number of confirmed cases and number of lethality keep rising up on a daily basis. The situation has raised serious concerns about the quick spread across the globe. Previous studies have focused majorly on the impact of (COVID-19) on health, economy and social life with less attention paid to the influence of (COVID-19) lockdown on the psychological disposition of some families in Ibadan. This study, therefore, was designed to investigate psychological disposition of (family conflict, food insecurity, anxiety and level of perception/indifference as negative outcomes of (COVID-19) lockdown pandemic. Health Belief Model theory (HBM) served as an anchor while survey method was utilised. Forty-two (42) families in Ibadan were randomly and purposively selected to answer and fill the online questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated using different scales. Data collected were analysed using simple percentage and standard deviation. The result revealed that 59% of some families believe that (COVID-19) lockdown has negative effect on family conflict, 69% on food insecurity, 50% on anxiety and finally, 54.8% on perception/indifference. The findings also revealed that, (COVID-19) lockdown pandemic has lingering apprehensive outcomes on Family conflict, food insecurity, anxiety and level of perception/indifference in some families in Ibadan. The results also showed that families are the most affected since the outbreak. However, the nature of the pandemic excludes no one despite age, colour or ethnic origin. Therefore, positive attitudes should be adopted by psychologists, religious leaders, health experts, community leaders and especially, those in the media to help in disseminating the factual information.