The Relationships among Anxiety, Subjective Well-Being, Media Consumption, and Safety-Seeking Behaviors during the COVID-19 Epidemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 epidemic has been confirmed as the largest scale outbreak of atypical pneumonia since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and it has become a public health emergency of international concern. It exacerbated public confusion and anxiety, and the impact of COVID-19 on people needs to be better understood. Indeed, prior studies that conducted meta-analysis of longitudinal cohort research compared mental health before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic and proved that public health polices (e.g., city lockdowns, quarantines, avoiding gatherings, etc.) and COVID-19-related information that circulates on new media platforms directly affected citizen’s mental health and well-being. Hence, this research aims to explore Taiwanese people’s health status, anxiety, media sources for obtaining COVID-19 information, subjective well-being, and safety-seeking behavior during the COVID-19 epidemic and how they are associated. Online surveys were conducted through new media platforms, and 342 responses were included in the analysis. The research results indicate that the participants experienced different aspects of COVID-19 anxiety, including COVID-19 worry and perceived COVID-19 risk. Among the given media sources, the more participants searched for COVID-19 information on new media, the greater they worried about COVID-19. Furthermore, COVID-19 worry was positively related to safety-seeking behavior, while perceived COVID-19 risk was negatively related to subjective well-being. This paper concludes by offering some suggestions for future studies and pointing out limitations of the present study.

COVID‐digital health literacy and subjective well‐being of students in Ghana: Mediation‐moderation analyses

“… 8 , 9 Recent studies have found that young adults showed a heightened use of digital media during the COVID‐19 pandemic. 10 , 11 …”

“…8,9 Recent studies have found that young adults showed a heightened use of digital media during the COVID-19 pandemic. 10,11 Subsequently, digital health literacy (DHL) has become a public health concern. 12,13 DHL refers to the skills to search, select, understand, appraise online health information and health care and apply the knowledge gained for preventing, addressing, or solving a health problem to improve psychological well-being.…”

“…These psychological consequences are related to the spread of information and misinformation (infodemic) about this epidemic owing to the prevalence of digital social media as the main source of information search among the general public, including adolescents and young adults 8,9 . Recent studies have found that young adults showed a heightened use of digital media during the COVID‐19 pandemic 10,11 …”

Motivation and anxiety during the second COVID-19 lockdown in gym exercisers: The mediating role of affects and satisfaction with life

“…In the present study, there was a negative association between satisfaction with life and state-anxiety. The associations between the levels of anxiety and subjective well-being (i.e., negative, and positive affect as well as satisfaction with life), have been reported in past literature (Beutel et al, 2016;Eldeleklioğlu, 2015;Dias Lopes et al, 2020) including in studies carried out in this period of confinement which was experienced in different countries (Luo et al, 2021;Smith et al, 2020).…”

Animal Welfare and Resistance to Disease: Interaction of Affective States and the Immune System

“…Even though optimistic patients might be more likely to persevere with therapy ( 29 ), optimistic judgements about health status might prevent someone from seeking timely medical advice ( 8 ). Indeed, Luo et al ( 32 ) found that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, people worrying less about the disease showed less safety-seeking behavior, while perceived risk correlated negatively with wellbeing.…”