The Anxiety-Buffer Hypothesis in the Time of COVID-19: When Self-Esteem Protects From the Impact of Loneliness and Fear on Anxiety and Depression

Rossi, Alessandro; Panzeri, Anna; Pietrabissa, Giada; Manzoni, Gian Mauro; Castelnuovo, Gianluca; Mannarini, Stefania

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02177

Cited by 140 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 134 publications

(173 reference statements)

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“…Its brevity, relevance in assessing loneliness and social isolation, and popularity were among the reasons in using the scale in the study. Loneliness has also been associated with various aspects of fear in previous research (e.g., Geukens et al 2020;Jakobsson and Hallberg 2005;Rossi et al 2020;Whitehead and Whitehead 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 71%

The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Psychometric Properties of the Ethiopian Amharic Version

Elemo

Satıcı

Griffiths

2020

Int J Ment Health Addiction

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Fear is an adaptive response that alerts individuals to the presence of a danger or threat. However, in the context of the current novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the fear experienced could be intense because the number of victims of the virus is continuously increasing globally and is inducing severe mental health concerns. The seven-item Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) assesses the severity of fear related to COVID-19 and has already been validated in many languages. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Amharic (Ethiopian) version of the FCV-19S. An online survey including the Amharic versions of the FCV-19S and the six-item UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-6) was administered to 307 Amharic-speaking participants using convenience sampling. The participants’ age ranged between 18 and 70 years. In the evaluation process, confirmatory factor analysis, Item Response Theory, concurrent validity, and reliabilities (Cronbach’s alpha, McDonald’s omega, Guttman’s lambda, and composite reliability) of the Amharic version of the FCV-19S were performed. The uni-dimensional structure of the FCV-19S was confirmed and the Amharic version of the FCV-19S had strong psychometric properties. All reliability coefficients of the Amharic FCV-19S were satisfactory, with sound concurrent validity shown by significant and positive correlations with loneliness. The results indicate that the FCV-19S can be used in research to assess the fear of COVID-19 among Amharic-speaking populations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 71%

The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Psychometric Properties of the Ethiopian Amharic Version

Elemo

Satıcı

Griffiths

2020

Int J Ment Health Addiction

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“…Identity processes have been linked to health fears. Negative self-assessments, especially of self-efficacy and self-esteem, are associated with higher levels of fear of both physical and mental illnesses (see, for instance, Collett et al 2016;Rossi et al 2020). As a result, we predicted that greater identity resilience would be associated with less fear of COVID-19.…”

Section: Fear Of Covid-19 Perceived Own Risk Of Covid-19 and Trustmentioning

confidence: 92%

Identity change, uncertainty and mistrust in relation to fear and risk of COVID-19

Breakwell

Jaspal

2020

Journal of Risk Research

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“…According to some, the psychological impact of COVID-19 may be greater than the threat represented by the physical disease itself, especially for vulnerable individuals [ 6 ]. A growing number of studies have highlighted psychological symptoms and issues in the clinical and general population [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Italian COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (IT C19PRC): General Overview and Replication of the UK Study

Bruno

Panzeri

Granziol

et al. 2020

JCM

Self Cite

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The COVID-19 pandemic represents a major stressor for the psychological health of people worldwide. In the UK, the COVID19-Psychological Research Consortium Study (C19PRC) launched to evaluate the psychological impact of COVID-19 in the general population and its implications. The project was then extended to Italy and several other countries. This article provides an overview of the Italian C19PRC study and its replication of two specific findings from the UK C19PRC. In the first part, the relationship between anxiety and somatic symptomatology is examined. In the second part, we analyze the association between several factors and psychological health outcomes: depression/anxiety, traumatic stress, COVID-19 anxiety. In line with the study conducted in the UK, an online survey was administered to the adult Italian general population. The sample included 1038 respondents (age, mean = 49.94, SD = 16.14, 51.15% females) taken from four regions: Lombardia, Veneto, Lazio, and Campania. The relationship between predictors and outcomes was evaluated by means of logistic regression models. Somatic indices showed a positive association with anxiety, worse somatic symptoms were associated with mourning a loss of a beloved one due to COVID-19 and with precarious health conditions. Females showed a higher incidence of psychological issues. No differences in anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress were found across regions but the Campania region showed the most severe somatic symptomatology. In the second analysis, the factors associated with more severe psychological outcomes (i.e., anxiety and/or depression, traumatic stress, and COVID-19 related anxiety) were younger age, the presence of minors in the household, traumatic stressors, and precarious health conditions. No differences across regions emerged. The Italian results correspond to the UK findings for anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress. Both in the UK and Italy, the factors associated with worse psychological health were gender (female), younger age, having children, pre-existing health issues (both for oneself or someone close), and the moderate/high perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 within one month. In Italy, unlike the UK, lower household income and having (had) COVID-19 were not associated with poorer mental health. The psychological impact of COVID-19 can last for months; future research should explore all aspects of the psychological burden of COVID-19 in order to implement psychological interventions and promote psychological health.

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The Anxiety-Buffer Hypothesis in the Time of COVID-19: When Self-Esteem Protects From the Impact of Loneliness and Fear on Anxiety and Depression

Cited by 140 publications

References 134 publications

The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Psychometric Properties of the Ethiopian Amharic Version

The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Psychometric Properties of the Ethiopian Amharic Version

Identity change, uncertainty and mistrust in relation to fear and risk of COVID-19

The Italian COVID-19 Psychological Research Consortium (IT C19PRC): General Overview and Replication of the UK Study

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