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Fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19): Predictors in an online study conducted in March 2020
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Abstract
Fear is an adaptive response in the presence of danger. However, when threat is uncertain and continuous, as in the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, fear can become chronic and burdensome. To identify predictors of fear of the coronavirus, we conducted an online survey (N = 439) three days after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic (i.e., between March 14 and 17, 2020). Fear of the coronavirus was assessed with the newly developed Fear of the Coronavirus Questionnaire (FCQ) consisting of eight questions pertaining to different dimensions of fear (e.g., subjective worry, safety behaviors, preferential attention), and an open-ended question. The predictors included psychological vulnerability factors (i.e., intolerance of uncertainty, worry, and health anxiety), media exposure, and personal relevance (i.e., personal health, risk for loved ones, and risk control). We found four predictors for the FCQ in a simultaneous regression analysis: health anxiety, regular media use, social media use, and risks for loved ones (R2 = .37). Furthermore, 16 different topics of concern were identified based participants’ open-ended responses, including the health of loved ones, health care systems overload, and economic consequences. We discuss the relevance of our findings for managing people’s fear of the coronavirus.
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“In addition, individual differences exist in the level of COVID-19 related concerns and therefore in the vulnerability to the psychosocial effects of the pandemic (Mertens, Gerritsen, et al., 2020; Taylor et al., 2021; Vos et al., 2021).”
From The association between facets of mindfulness and COVID-19 related distress: A cross-sectional study (2023) · cites this paper as Mertens, Gerritsen, et al., 2020
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“Children with chronic illnesses appear especially vulnerable to IU’s adverse effects (Mertens et al., 2020).”
From Intolerance of Uncertainty and Health-Related Anxiety in Youth amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding and Weathering the Continuing Storm (2022) · cites this paper as Mertens et al., 2020
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“A potential risk factor for the mental health consequences of COVID-19 could be enhanced fear related to the virus (Mertens, Gerritsen, et al., 2020; Taylor et al., 2020b).”
From The association between facets of mindfulness and COVID-19 related distress: A cross-sectional study (2023) · cites this paper as Mertens, Gerritsen, et al., 2020
In the citing paper
“Most of these studies also detected a link between fear of COVID-19 and anxiety (Mertens et al., 2020) and, to a lesser extent, depression, using both the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS; Ahorsu et al., 2020; Alyami et al., 2020) and the Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21).”
From Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression (2020) · cites this paper as Mertens et al., 2020
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Bibliometric Analysis of High School Keyword Using VOSviewer Indexed by Google Scholar
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“However, when the threat is uncertain and persistent, such as the coronavirus pandemic, fear can become chronic and severe (Mertens et al., 2020).”
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Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Perception on Job Stress of Construction Workers
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The Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health in Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study in Italy
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“…such as grief due to the loss of loved ones, fear about COVID-19 infection for themselves and their family, fi nancial insecurity and uncertainty about their futures (Ara´ujo et al., 2020; Cao et al., 2020; Lyons et al., 2020; Mertens et al., 2020; Mortazavi et al., 2020; O ’ Byrne et al., 2021).”
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“Besides, while previous research has shown that IU tends to decrease with age among adults [15, 64, 65], little attention has been given to the association between age and IU during adolescence.”
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“Although the antecedents and outcomes of SWB are clear within the literature, the specific factors and the extent towards which these would be applicable during the COVID-19 pandemic is not known (Fried, 2020; Mertens et al. 2020).”
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“Future studies should evaluate multivariate models that account for the influence of media consumption (Chao et al., 2020; Mertens et al., 2020), misinformation about the virus (Rajkumar, 2020; Van Bortel et al.”
BackgroundExperiencing COVID-19 symptoms without the disease: The role of nocebo in reporting of symptoms
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Baute, S., & RUIJTER, A. D. (2021) · Journal of European Public Policy · doi:10.1080/13501763.2021.1936129 · Cited by 23
Values and COVID-19 worries: The importance of emotional stability traits
Fischer, R. D., Bortolini, T., Pilati, R., Porto, J. B., & Moll, J. (2021) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2021.111079 · Cited by 23
Wang, Y., Li, Q., Tarimo, C. S., Wu, C., Miao, Y., & Wu, J. (2021) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-045386 · Cited by 23
Batmaz, H., Türk, N., & DOĞRUSEVER, C. (2021) · Anemon Muş Alparslan Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi · doi:10.18506/anemon.895199 · Cited by 23
Cognitive appraisal, Coping, Stress and Fear Contracting Covid-19 in Working People in Pakistan
Ali, A., Khan, A. A., Abbas, S., Khan, A. S., & Ullah, E. (2021) · Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1007/s10942-021-00433-z · Cited by 30
“Literature supports the predictors of fear as in an online study conducted in March 2020, during the outbreak of COVID-19, intolerance of uncertainty, worry, concern for personal health, the risk for family, and media exposure were revealed as predictors of fear (Mertens et al., 2020).”
ResultA preliminary analysis of the secondary sex ratio decline after the COVID ‐19 pandemic in Japan
Inoue, Y., & Mizoue, T. (2022) · American Journal of Human Biology · doi:10.1002/ajhb.23750 · Cited by 23
“(Mertens et al., 2020).”
Longitudinal assessment of COVID-19 fear and psychological wellbeing in the United Kingdom
Quigley, M., Whiteford, S., Cameron, G., Zuj, D. V., & Dymond, S. (2022) · Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1177/13591053221134848 · Cited by 25
Sloan, M. M., Haner, M., Graham, A., Cullen, F. T., Pickett, J. T., & Jonson, C. L. (2020) · doi:10.31235/osf.io/txqb6 · Cited by 23
Health anxiety, coping mechanisms and COVID 19: An Indian community sample at week 1 of lockdown
Barron Millar, E., Singhal, D., Vijayaraghavan, P., Seshadri, S., Smith, E., Dixon, P., Humble, S., Rodgers, J., & Sharma, A. N. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250336 · Cited by 21
Bigot, A., Banse, E., Cordonnier, A., & Luminet, O. (2021) · Psychologica Belgica · doi:10.5334/pb.712 · Cited by 21
“Jungmann, S. M., & Witthöft, M. (2020).”
BackgroundInfluentialCOVID-19 pandemic induced stress cardiomyopathy: A literature review
Desai, H. D., Sharma, K. H., Jadeja, D. M., Desai, H. M., & Moliya, P. (2020) · IJC Heart & Vasculature · doi:10.1016/j.ijcha.2020.100628 · Cited by 22
Koppert, T. Y., Jacobs, J. W. G., & Geenen, R. (2020) · Rheumatology · doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keaa842 · Cited by 22
“To prevent excessive worry, people are advised to read and watch trustworthy, fact-based information in the media, instead of the much more common anxiety-provoking information [27].”
BackgroundReturn to Work: Managing Employee Population Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Fragala, M. S., Goldberg, Z. N., & Goldberg, S. E. (2020) · Population Health Management · doi:10.1089/pop.2020.0261 · Cited by 25
Howe, C. A., Corrigan, R. J., de Faria, F. R., Johanni, Z., Chase, P. J., & Hillman, A. R. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph182211935 · Cited by 22
Adamczyk, K., Clark, D. A., & Pradelok, J. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0260459 · Cited by 22
Cvetković, V. M., Nikolić, N., Ocal, A., Martinović, J., & Dragašević, A. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph19020652 · Cited by 24
Impact of COVID-19 on mental health and career anxiety of hospitality and tourism students in the UK
Rahimi, R., Akgündüz, Y., & Bilgihan, A. (2022) · Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights · doi:10.1108/jhti-05-2021-0129 · Cited by 24
Daks, J. S., Peltz, J. S., & Rogge, R. D. (2022) · Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science · doi:10.1016/j.jcbs.2022.08.011 · Cited by 22
“experienced many sudden and unexpected stressors, which included emergent financial stressors, added parenting burdens, and the fear of contracting this new virus (Low & Mounts, 2022; Mertens et al., 2020; Spinelli et al., 2020).”
Broche‐Pérez, Y., Fernández-Fleites, Z., Castillo, E. F., Jiménez-Puig, E., Vizcaíno-Escobar, A. E., Ferrer-Lozano, D. M., Rodríguez, L. M., & Martín-González, R. (2021) · Frontiers in Global Women s Health · doi:10.3389/fgwh.2021.634088 · Cited by 26
Internet Use, eHealth Literacy and Fear of COVID-19 among Nursing Students in the Philippines
Oducado, R. M., Tuppal, C. P., Estoque, H., Sadang, J. M., Superio, D. L., Real, D. V. C., Roa, M. N. T., Malaga, X. G., Quiros, J., Fajardo, M. T. M., et al. (2021) · IJERI International Journal of Educational Research and Innovation · doi:10.46661/ijeri.5520 · Cited by 28
Fear of COVID-19 and Remote Teaching Burnout of Filipino K to 12 Teachers
Carreon, T., Rotas, E., Cahapay, M. B., Garcia, K., Amador, R., & Anoba, J. L. D. (2021) · IJERI International Journal of Educational Research and Innovation · doi:10.46661/ijeri.5853 · Cited by 21
Aslan, S., & Dinç, M. (2021) · Perspectives In Psychiatric Care · doi:10.1111/ppc.12927 · Cited by 20
Koopmann, J. M., Liu, Y., Liang, Y., & Liu, S. (2021) · Journal of Applied Psychology · doi:10.1037/apl0000938 · Cited by 21
Byrd, K., Her, E., Fan, A., Liu, Y., & Leitch, S. (2022) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103186 · Cited by 21
Sajid, K. S., Hussain, S., Hussain, R. I., & Mustafa, B. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.826870 · Cited by 21
Depression as a mediator between fear of COVID-19 and death anxiety
Gündoğan, S., & Arpacı, İ. (2022) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03120-z · Cited by 31
One-year into COVID-19 pandemic: Decision-making and mental-health outcomes and their risk factors
Fiorenzato, E., & Cona, G. (2022) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.144 · Cited by 21
COVID-19 Stress and Sexual Identities
Manning, W. D., & Dush, C. M. K. (2022) · Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World · doi:10.1177/23780231221105376 · Cited by 21
Langhammer, T., Peters, C., Ertle, A., Hilbert, K., & Lueken, U. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0272215 · Cited by 20
“Fear of infection and health concerns, economic and financial uncertainty, social isolation, and familial stress are major challenges in a worldwide pandemic, possibly leading to increased psychological distress and mental health problems [1, 2].”
BackgroundSmolić, Š., Fabijančić, M., & Blaževski, N. (2022) · Eastern European Economics · doi:10.1080/00128775.2022.2150218 · Cited by 21
“Another study analyzed the predictors of fear toward the coronavirus pandemic and found that health anxiety, more media exposure, and concerns about the health of loved ones were related to increased fear (Mertens et al. 2020).”
BackgroundАлександрович, В. И., Millones, D. L. M., Vasin, G. M., Millones-Rivalles, R. B., Manrique‐Pino, O., Fernández-Ríos, N., Александровна, М. Ю., Lobaskova, M. M., Symaniuk, E. E., Pecherkina, A. A., et al. (2020) · Psychology in Russia State of Art · doi:10.11621/pir.2020.0404 · Cited by 21
ÇELİK, D., Alpay, E. H., Celebi, B., & Türkeli, A. (2021) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008198.2021.1953790 · Cited by 23
Metadata
- Authors
- Mertens, G., Gerritsen, L., Duijndam, S., Salemink, E., & Engelhard, I. M.
- Affiliations
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Tilburg University (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Mertens, Gaëtan
- Venue
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-08
- Volume
- 74
- Pages
- 102258
- ISSN
- 0887-6185 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7286280
- OpenAlex
- W3020284447
- Cited by
- 1,264
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 120 · 2023: 209 · 2022: 350 · 2021: 410 · 2020: 100
- FWCI
- 106.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Anxiety Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research portal (Tilburg University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Communication › Communication and COVID-19 Impact
- Keywords
- fear of COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, predictors of fear, health anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, worry, media exposure, social media use, personal relevance, safety behavior, economic impact
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Anxiety, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pneumonia, Viral, Surveys and Questionnaires, Stress, Psychological, Coronavirus Infections, Internet, Uncertainty, Young Adult, Pandemics, Social Media
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