*3.6. Moderated Mediating Effect of Pandemic Threat (Subjective Social Class as Independent Variable)*

We next tested for the moderating role of the pandemic threat. Moderated mediating effect analysis in PROCESS [44] was used to test the moderated mediation effect using 1000 bootstrapped samples. Results (see Table 3) showed that subjective social class was significantly associated with perceived control. More importantly, pandemic threat significantly moderated the impact of subjective social class on need for structure and the impact of perceived control on need for structure. This suggests that the mediating effect among subjective social class, perceived control, and need for structure was moderated by pandemic threat. We further tested the conditional indirect effects. For lower pandemic threat, the indirect effect of subjective social class on need for structure was significant (indirect effect = −0.05, 95% CI [−0.07, −0.03]), and for higher pandemic threat, the effect was not significant (indirect effect = 0.00, 95% CI [−0.02,0.01]).



Note: \* *p* < 0.05, \*\* *p* < 0.01, \*\*\* *p* < 0.001.

We conducted simple slope tests to better understand the results regarding pandemic threat as a moderator. As depicted in Figure 6, when the pandemic threat was lower, the need for structure of the upper-class individuals was significantly lower than that of the lower-class individuals (*b* = −0.13, *SE* = 0.03, *t* = −4.49, *p* < 0.001). However, when the pandemic threat was higher, this discrepancy disappeared (*b* = 0.00, *SE* = 0.02, *t* = −0.02, *p* = 0.98). Furthermore, for lower subjective class, pandemic threat could not predict the need for structure (*b =* 0.05, *SE* = 0.04, *t* = 1.12, *p* = 0.26), but for those with higher subjective class, pandemic threat positively predicted the need for structure (*b =* 0.30, *SE* = 0.06, *t* = 4.99, *p* < 0.001).

**Figure 6.** Interactive effect of pandemic threat and subjective social class on need for structure. Note: Pandemic threat is graphed for two levels: high pandemic threat (1 *SD* above the mean) and low pandemic threat (1 *SD* below the mean).

Similarly, as depicted in Figure 7, when the pandemic threat was lower, people with higher perceived control had significantly lower need for structure than those with lower perceived control (*b =* −0.20, *SE* = 0.04, *t* = −4.61, *p* < 0.001). However, when the pandemic threat was higher, this discrepancy disappeared (*b =* −0.02, *SE* = 0.04, *t* = −0.45, *p* = 0.65). Furthermore, for individuals of lower perceived control, pandemic threat could not predict the need for structure (*b =* 0.03, *SE* = 0.05, *t* = 0.72, *p* = 0.47), but for those with higher perceived control, pandemic threat positively predicted the need for structure (*b =* 0.29, *SE* = 0.06, *t* = 5.13, *p* < 0.001).

Therefore, based on both the results of objective and subjective social classes, all the above hypotheses were supported by these data. Perceived control played a mediating role between social class and the need for structure, and pandemic threat moderated the mediating model.

**Figure 7.** Interactive effect of pandemic threat and perceived control on need for structure. Note: Pandemic threat is graphed for two levels: higher pandemic threat (1 *SD* above the mean) and lower pandemic threat (1 *SD* below the mean).
