Fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19): Predictors in an online study conducted in March 2020

Abstract

Fear is an adaptive response in the presence of danger. However, when threat is uncertain and continuous, as in the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, fear can become chronic and burdensome. To better understand predictors of fear of the coronavirus, we conducted an online survey (N = 439) between March 14 and 17, 2020, which started three days after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Fear of the coronavirus was assessed with eight questions pertaining to different dimensions of fear (e.g., subjective worry, avoidance, preferential attention) and an open-ended question. The predictors included measures of psychological vulnerability factors (i.e., intolerance of uncertainty, worry, health anxiety), media exposure, and personal relevance (i.e., personal health, risk for loved ones, and risk control). We found that respondents reported a wide range of concerns relating to the coronavirus outbreak, such as the health of their loved ones, collapse of health care systems, and economic consequences. Four predictors for fear of the coronavirus were retained after backward selection in a simultaneous regression analysis: health anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, media use, and risks for loved ones (R2 = .37). We discuss the relevance of our findings for managing people’s fear of the coronavirus.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stress and emotional reactions in Israel: A mixed-methods study

“…The participants' emotional responses and sense of threat stemmed from their concerns for their own health and that of their loved ones, their worries about employment, their di culties in staying home with their children and spouses, and the problems posed by working at home. These ndings are in line with ndings of previous studies conducted during the COVID-19 outbreak pointing to a variety of concerns among research participants: health anxiety, personal health, threat to loved ones, and risk control, employment, virus spread and economic and societal consequences [21].…”

“…Moreover, most people locked down in their homes watch the news nonstop and tend to panic about the rising numbers of infections and deaths [20,21]. Indeed, media exposure is another possible explanation for the high levels of stress and emotional response emerging in this study.…”

“…Yet when such safety measures are too prolonged or too strict, they can have negative consequences, among them economic disruption and unemployment [21]. Social distancing that includes closing shops and schools and working from home is likely to make people feel safer but also to increase their feelings of isolation, stress and frustration and to cause di culties in many life situations (in the family, between members of a couple, in the employment sphere) [26].…”

Emotional and Behavioral Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Health Anxiety, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Distress (In)Tolerance

“…The results from the COVID-19 pandemic, so far, confirmed the impact of health anxiety on the emotional responding towards the pandemic. Health anxiety and illness attitudes were associated with virus anxiety, concerns about SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 related stress, depressive symptoms, (generalized) anxiety, death anxiety and the likelihood of self-isolation [ 13 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. While, the latter mentioned studies did not specifically differentiate between health anxiety emerged due to COVID-19 and health anxiety existing “before” COVID-19, Taylor et al [ 19 , 20 ] were the first to ask for “premorbid” health anxiety and found a significant correlation with COVID-19-related distress.…”

Evidence-based health solutions for challenges women face during pandemics like COVID-19: A systematic review protocol

“…To date, COVID-19 has claimed over 20.4 million con rmed cases and 745,000 deaths worldwide [4], leaving the world scrambling and struggling to nd a solution [5][6][7]. Similar to the severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome or MERS, coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 is a pandemic that has caused fear and uncertainty across continents [8][9][10]. Different from SARS and MERS, COVID-19 has greater transmissibility [11][12][13].…”