Feelings of fear, sadness, and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from two studies in the UK

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, exposure to COVID-related stimuli, has been enormous. Exposure to threat-related stimuli, can have a significant impact on people's wellbeing particularly in relation to COVID-related anxiety. The present research comprises two empirical studies. In Study 1, a newly developed Emotional Stroop Task (EST) and an Image Rating Task (IRT) were used to assess, automatic and non-automatic affective responses to COVID-related words and images during the first wave of the pandemic in the UK general population. In Study 2, the same tasks were used to evaluate the affective responses of University students during the second wave of the pandemic. Additionally, loneliness and pro-social behaviours were explored in relation COVID-related anxiety in the same population. Overall, the results showed that automatic affective responses as measured by interference effects on the EST, remained unaffected during the pandemic. However, non-automatic affective responses to COVID-related images measured by the IRT, indicated that participants rated these images as more fearful sadder and higher in anger, compared to non-COVID negative images matched for arousal and negativity and this was more evident in people with high COVID-anxiety. Trait anxiety was related to higher levels of loneliness, more prosocial behaviour and higher intentions to help others, while COVID-related anxiety mediated these effects, suggesting that for high levels of trait anxiety, participants were more likely to have helped someone in need during the pandemic when their COVID-anxiety levels were low.

Gender and COVID-19 related fear and anxiety: A meta-analysis

“… South Africa Africa Hospital staff N.A. Collectivism Ypsilanti et al, 2021 101 5.5 UK Europe General population 29.10 Individualism Sarıgedik and Bahar Ölmez, 2021 407 13.5 Turkey Europe General population 29.54 Collectivism Guzel et al, 2021 370 12 Turkey Europe Healthcare students N.A. Collectivism Öztekin et al, 2021 479 N.A.…”

“…Also, contrary to what we expected, Middle East samples surprisingly revealed no gender difference in COVID-19 related fear and anxiety. Considering the higher risk perception of females in individualistic societies, their greater awareness of danger, maladaptation in facing threats, and more negative perceptions about the health risks of the pandemics ( Alsharawy et al, 2021 ; Bengston et al, 2005; Magano et al, 2021 ; Morales-Rodríguez, 2021 ; Nino et al, 2021; Orrù et al, 2021 ; Tsipropoulou et al, 2020 ; Ypsilanti et al, 2021 ), and some cultural factors, the highest effect size in favor of females is expected in European samples. In addition, the effect size of gender difference in COVID-19 related fear was higher in individualistic orientation than collectivistic, while in COVID-19 related anxiety was higher in collectivistic orientation than individualistic, but there were no statistically significant differences.…”

“…In most studies conducted in North America, females had higher levels of COVID-19 related fear and anxiety than males (Camacho et al, 2020; Grande and Doyle-Baker, 2021 ; García-Reyna et al, 2021 ; Gélinas et al, 2021 ; Landa-Blanco et al, 2021 ; Lee et al, 2020 ; Pérez-Fuentes et al, 2020 ; Ojalehto et al, 2021 ). In addition, studies conducted in Europe, female's COVID-19 related fear and anxiety levels were higher ( Bakioğlu et al, 2020 ; Kaçoğlu et al, 2021 ; Morales-Rodríguez, 2021 ; Orrù et al, 2021 ; Tsipropoulou et al, 2020 ; Ypsilanti et al, 2021 ). On the other hand, some studies conducted in Middle East countries showed that males had higher levels of COVID-19 related fear and anxiety than females ( Abdelgwad and Abdelaziz, 2021 ; Alnazly et al, 2021 ; Ashoor et al, 2021 ; Ghaderi et al, 2021 ; Saravanan et al, 2020 ).…”

“…To clarify this, it would be useful to add continent as a categorical moderator. Overall, the average age of sample, culture, continent, timing, and target population were considered potential moderators as these variables were treated as moderators in the studies included in this meta-analysis (e.g., Alothman et al, 2021 ; Chorwe-Sungani, 2021 ; Gélinas et al, 2021 ; Ojalehto et al, 2021 ; Saravanan et al, 2020 ; Wakashima et al, 2020 ; Yalçın et al, 2021 ; Ypsilanti et al, 2021 ).…”

Learning Stress, Involvement, Academic Concerns, and Mental Health among University Students during a Pandemic: Influence of Fear and Moderation of Self-Efficacy

“…The SOR model that was proposed by Woodworth and Marquis [ 24 ] defines a stimulus as the external force that influences the psychological state of a person. Ypsilanti, et al [ 25 ] found that affective responses are an effective way to assess the stimulus that is associated with COVID-19, such as feelings of fear, sadness, and loneliness. Evidence of these fears, caused by a perception of threatening stimuli, has already been found in previous pandemic research [ 26 , 27 ].…”