COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress and Loneliness in Chinese Residents in North America: The Role of Contraction Worry

Abstract

The current study examined the association of COVID-19 contraction worry for self and for family members with COVID-19 peritraumatic distress and loneliness in Chinese residents in North America. A sample of 943 Chinese residents (immigrants, citizens, visitors, and international students) in North America completed a cross-sectional online survey during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (between January and February 2021). Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) models identified possible sociodemographic variables that were included in the subsequent hierarchical regression models. According to the hierarchical regression models, self-contraction worry was significantly associated with both COVID-19 peritraumatic distress (B = −4.340, p < 0.001) and loneliness (B = −0.771, p = 0.006) after controlling for related sociodemographic covariates; however, family-contraction worry was not significantly associated with the outcome variables. Additionally, poorer health status and experienced discrimination significantly predicted higher COVID-19 peritraumatic distress, whereas poorer health status and perceived discrimination significantly predicted increased loneliness. The results highlighted the detrimental impacts of self-contraction worry on peritraumatic distress and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chinese residents in North America.

Peritraumatic Distress among Chinese Canadians during the Early Lockdown Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Sociodemographic and Pandemic-Related Predictors

“…Consistently, Statistics Canada found that reports of racially based attacks and forms of harassment against Chinese Canadians increased by 30% from the onset of the pandemic to May 2020 [19,20]. Our past work also identified discrimination (perceived or experienced) as a robust and strong risk factor for COVID-19-related risk perceptions [21] as well as mental health outcomes among Chinese Canadians during the pandemic [10,[22][23][24]. Increased incidences of racial discrimination, reports of higher anxiety symptoms among immigrant populations, and the cultural barriers/stigma around accessing mental health support make it essential to understand the risk factors for this population [10].…”

“…Overall, these findings demonstrate how perceptual models may be a necessary approach for evaluating and identifying predictors of the pandemic's psychological impact. Among Chinese residents in Canada, COVID-19-related perceptions such as a self-contraction worry have been associated with higher distress and loneliness during the pandemic [22].…”

Demographic and COVID Experience Predictors of COVID-19 Risk Perception among Chinese Residents in Canada

“…There is also a possibility that individuals who are perceiving discrimination, or who have a personal connection to COVID-related cases, are experiencing higher levels of distress. In particular, worry about personally contracting COVID-19 has been significantly associated with COVID-19 peritraumatic distress [ 33 ]. Similarly, previous research showed that perceived and experienced racial discrimination serve as robust predictors for mental health condition among Chinese living in Canada [ 34 , 35 ].…”

“…Potentially those who felt confused might have attended to multiple (reliable or unreliable) sources of COVID-19 information, and may have been receiving conflicting information. This may increase their distress and uncertainty, and thus make them likely to perceive the pandemic as more threating [ 33 ].…”

Fear of COVID-19 is associated with trust, subjective numeracy, and differentially with loneliness in older versus younger adults

“…With the contagious yet invisible nature of COVID-19, a psychosocial toll is placed on individuals regardless of whether they have contracted the illness (Ahorsu et al, 2020). During the initial pandemic response, reports of elevated distress related to COVID-19 were evident (Best et al, 2021;Varga et al, 2021;Lee et al, 2022). Extant literature on fear of COVID-19 has yielded contrasting findings, with some suggesting greater fear of COVID-19 in younger adults (Bäuerle et al, 2020;Quadros et al, 2021) and others reporting no age differences (Luo et al, 2021).…”