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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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Fear and Panic Buying Behavior Associated with the Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic in Palestine
Alfoqahaa, S. (2022) · Lecture notes in networks and systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-08954-1_95 · Cited by 4
Perspectives: Nursing students and COVID-19: challenges and coping strategies
Kalal, N., & Rana, N. (2022) · Journal of research in nursing · doi:10.1177/17449871221114547 · Cited by 4
Khanal, A., Sulochan, G. C., Panthee, S., Paudel, A., Ghimire, R., Neupane, G., Gaire, A., Sitaula, R., Bhattarai, S., Khadka, S., et al. (2022) · Vaccines · doi:10.3390/vaccines11010029 · Cited by 4
“The most significant concerns about COVID-19 were the health of others (friends, grandparents, and loved ones), followed by healthcare collapse, economic consequences, and mass panic [8].”
BackgroundBastani, F., & Haghani, H. (2022) · Iran Journal of Nursing · doi:10.32598/ijn.35.2.256.16 · Cited by 4
Hidayat, B., Rahman, A. A., Nugroho, S., Leybina, A. V., Muliadi, R., Listyani, N., & Lubis, L. T. (2023) · Psikis Jurnal Psikologi Islami · doi:10.19109/psikis.v9i1.16634 · Cited by 4
“In fact, an uncertain and continuous threat can become chronic and burdensome (Mertens et al., 2020).”
BackgroundWang, Y., Xu, S., Chen, Y., & Liu, H. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1217264 · Cited by 4
KÜÇÜK, B. A. (2023) · Business Perspectives and Research · doi:10.1177/22785337231183267 · Cited by 7
“In light of these results, the findings indicate that anxiety and worry resulting from intolerance to uncertainty gradually deplete an employee’s psychosocial resources (Mertens et al., 2020).”
EmoFlow: Visualizing Emotional Changes in Video Chat - Preliminary Study
Kim, D., Oh, J., Jeong, J.-Y., & Jeong, J.-W. (2023) · International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI) · doi:10.1145/3565066.3608702 · Cited by 4
“Moreover, the fear and uncertainty associated with the spreading virus have exacerbated various mental health issues, including anxiety, helplessness, and depression worldwide [4, 11, 17, 18].”
BackgroundSarman, A., & Tuncay, S. (2024) · Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing · doi:10.1111/jcap.12458 · Cited by 4
Saini, G., Dash, S. S., & Jena, L. K. (2024) · Journal of Health Management · doi:10.1177/09720634241236831 · Cited by 5
Gomora, D., Kene, C., Embiale, A., Tekalegn, Y., Geta, G., Seyoum, K., Beressa, G., Atlaw, D., Sahiledengle, B., Desta, F., et al. (2024) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27843 · Cited by 4
“This fear has become a pandemic itself, affecting various aspects of life [48,49 – 54].”
BackgroundMahdavi, F., Asgarian, F. S., & Aghajani, M. (2024) · Medical Acupuncture · doi:10.1089/acu.2023.0028 · Cited by 4
Koçak, O., Yavuz, K., & Yıldırım, M. (2024) · European Journal of Education · doi:10.1111/ejed.12708 · Cited by 12
Hesitancy to Return to the Pre-pandemic Routine
Holeva, V., Parlapani, E., Nikopoulou, V. A., Kostikidou, S., & Diakogiannis, I. (2021) · Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1007/s10942-021-00396-1 · Cited by 4
“As a result of the current medical crisis, people formed new habits, adhering to several measures to protect themselves and their loved ones (Mertens et al., 2020).”
BackgroundPengaruh Fear of COVID-19 terhadap Burnout dengan Variabel Mediator Resiliensi pada Tenaga Kesehatan
Kusuma, F. H., & Purba, H. P. (2021) · Buletin Riset Psikologi dan Kesehatan Mental (BRPKM) · doi:10.20473/brpkm.v1i1.26772 · Cited by 4
COVİD-19 DÖNEMİ ACİL UZAKTAN EĞİTİM FAALİYETLERİNİN ÖĞRETMENLERDE YARATTIĞI PSİKOLOJİK GÜÇLÜKLER
BATTAL, B., & KOŞAR, D. (2021) · Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Üniversitesi SBE Dergisi · doi:10.30783/nevsosbilen.988780 · Cited by 5
Arroyo, M., Rey, G. N., Tiburcio, M., & Martínez-Vélez, N. A. (2021) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-021-00669-x · Cited by 5
“Recent conceptualizations and measurements related to pandemic-associated distress have focused primarily on fear of contagion and tend to be one-dimensional (Ahorsu et al., 2020; Lee, 2020; Mertens et al., 2020).”
BackgroundParents' Psychological Aspect in Caring for the Child During COVID-19 Pandemic
Hasinuddin, M., Rusana, R., Noviana, U., Ekawati, H., Aini, N., & Poddar, S. (2021) · Jurnal NERS · doi:10.20473/jn.v16i2.30637 · Cited by 4
Magaz-González, A. M., Cuervo, C. M., Sahelices‐Pinto, C., & Tascón, M. G. (2021) · Retos · doi:10.47197/retos.v44i0.90716 · Cited by 4
“…2020) and the excessive use of social networks can pose a threat to health, as it may amplify the stress caused by the pandemic (Amsalem et al., 2020; Casero-Ripollés, 2020; Depoux et al., 2020; Gao et al., 2020; Garfin et al., 2020; Liu & Liu, 2020; Mertens et al., 2020; Schmidt et al., 2020).”
BackgroundWisatawan nusantara sebagai pengungkit ekonomi bali di era pandemi covid-19
Putra, M. S. P., Yustiani, D., & Astawa, I. N. D. (2021) · Jurnal Ilmiah Hospitality Management · doi:10.22334/jihm.v12i1.195 · Cited by 4
Social alignment matters: Following pandemic guidelines is associated with better wellbeing
Tunçgenç, B., Newson, M., Sulik, J., Zhao, Y., Dezecache, G., Deroy, O. D., & Zein, M. E. (2022) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-022-13130-y · Cited by 4
Consumer purchase intention on Boba drinks in Kuching during Covid-19
Chia, R. C.-J., Efendi, M., & Liew, V. K. (2023) · Cogent Business & Management · doi:10.1080/23311975.2023.2177399 · Cited by 8
Overconfidence at the time of COVID-19:Does it lead to laxer attitudes?
Piehlmaier, D., Stagno, E., & Nagy, A. (2023) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116000 · Cited by 4
Characterising subgroups of people with severe COVID anxiety by latent profile analysis
King, J. D., McQuaid, A., Leeson, V. C., Tella, O., & Crawford, M. (2023) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2023.10.033 · Cited by 3
Media consumption and COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy: health literacy as a response
Tollison, A. C., & LoPresti, A. (2023) · Communication Research Reports · doi:10.1080/08824096.2023.2270904 · Cited by 4
“Mertens et al. (2020), specific to COVID-19, highlight a positive correlation between media exposure (traditional and social) and participants fears toward the virus.”
BackgroundUse of antimicrobials during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study among stakeholders in Nepal
Dhungel, B., Shrestha, U. T., Adhikari, S., Adhikari, N., Bhattarai, A., Pokharel, S., Karkey, A., Limmathurotsakul, D., Ghimire, P., Rijal, K. R., et al. (2023) · PLOS Global Public Health · doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0002166 · Cited by 4
“Some of these drivers were echoed by previous study from Nepal [33] while a study from 28 countries documented social stigma as the most important factor in contributing the perceived risk and fears as the root cause of averting health-seeking behaviors and practices at formal health services [34-38].”
Amoa‐Gyarteng, K., Dhliwayo, S., & Adekomaya, V. O. (2023) · Small Business International Review · doi:10.26784/sbir.v7i2.587 · Cited by 7
“Additionally, safety policies in the workplace, such as mask mandates, occupancy restrictions, and increased sanitization procedures, also negatively impacted employee well-being and attitudes (Mertens et al., 2020).”
Background
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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