The DOI matches its Crossref record; 48 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Fear of the coronavirus (COVID-19): Predictors in an online study conducted in March 2020
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
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
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“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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In the citing paper
“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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Citations
Cites
A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales
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“Cohen’s Kappa was calculated to determine the degree of interrater agreement (Cohen, 1960).”
The application of electronic computers to factor analysis
Kaiser, H. F. (1960) · Educational and Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/001316446002000116 · Cited by 12,459 · cited 2×
“Kaiser’s criterium of 1 and a scree plot was used to select the number of components (Kaiser, 1960).”
InfluentialA Rationale and Test for the Number of Factors in Factor Analysis
Horn, J. L. (1965) · Psychometrika · doi:10.1007/bf02289447 · Cited by 8,965 · cited 1×
“It was based on random data generation, which is parallel to the actual dataset (Horn, 1965).”
Holmes, E. A., O'Connor, R. C., Perry, V. H., Tracey, I., Wessely, S., Arseneault, L., Ballard, C., Christensen, H., Cohen Silver, R., Everall, I., et al. (2020) · The Lancet Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30168-1 · Cited by 5,715
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“Furthermore, two other vulnerability factors implicated in anxiety-related disorders are of interest here: worry and health-related anxiety (Abramowitz et al., 2007; Meyer et al., 1990).”
Fear-avoidance and its consequences in chronic musculoskeletal pain: a state of the art.
Vlaeyen, J. W. S., & Linton, S. J. (2000) · Pain · doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(99)00242-0 · Cited by 4,931
The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: Development and Initial Validation
Ahorsu, D. K., Lin, C.-Y., Imani, V., Saffari, M., Griffiths, M. D., & Pakpour, A. H. (2022) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8 · Cited by 4,332
O’connor, B. P. (2000) · Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers · doi:10.3758/bf03200807 · Cited by 4,116 · cited 2×
“Following univariate analyses, a simultaneous linear regression was conducted including all significant predictors from the univariate analyses to investigate the unique contribution of each of the predictors in explaining variance in the FCQ. Analyses were conducted in IBM SPSS v26 and an alpha cut-off of .05 was use…”
Fearing the unknown: A short version of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale
Carleton, R. N., Norton, M. A. P. J., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2007) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.03.014 · Cited by 2,288
Coping Resources, Coping Processes, and Mental Health
Taylor, S. E., & Stanton, A. L. (2007) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091520 · Cited by 1,600
Cited by
Sorted by citations
COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates
Taylor, S., Landry, C. A., Paluszek, M. M., Fergus, T. A., McKay, D., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2020) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.23071 · Cited by 673
Benke, C., Autenrieth, L. K., Asselmann, E., & Pané-Farré, C. A. (2020) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113462 · Cited by 585
“Moreover, people are faced with the risk of a potentially life-threatening COVID-19 infection, which may trigger feelings of uncertainty, fear, anxiety and even result into social isolation (Asmundson and Taylor, 2020; Mertens et al., 2020).”
Tzur Bitan, D., Grossman-Giron, A., Bloch, Y., Mayer, Y., Shiffman, N., & Mendlovic, S. (2020) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113100 · Cited by 553
“In a recent study conducted by Mertens et al. (2020) among 439 participants from 28 different countries, personal relevance such as health risk for loved ones was found to predict fear of COVID-19.”
Acceptance and attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines: A cross-sectional study from Jordan
El‐Elimat, T., AbuAlSamen, M. M., Almomani, B. A., Al‐Sawalha, N. A., & Alali, F. Q. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250555 · Cited by 551
“Our findings were in alignment with the findings of Mertens et al, where increased fear during the COVID-19 pandemic was found to be related to perceived risks for family members and health anxiety [42].”
ResultRaza, S. A., Qazi, W., Khan, K. A., & Salam, J. (2021) · Journal of Educational Computing Research · doi:10.1177/0735633120960421 · Cited by 510
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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