COVID-19 Fear, Mental Health, and Substance Use Among Israeli University Students

Abstract

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has a significant impact on the well-being of people and nations worldwide, with major public health, economic, social and safety implications (Nicola et al. 2020). The policies enacted to cope with the outbreak differ among and within countries; however, there are common response measures such as social distance, lockdown, and stay-at-home (Lin 2020; Pakpour and Griffiths 2020). Moreover, the vast majority of day-to-day activities such as work and education have become online efforts with uncertain effects on the physical and mental health among people of all ages.Health authorities have recognized the probable deterioration of mental health conditions due to COVID-19 (WHO 2020a). For example, 24.9% of Chinese college students experienced some level of anxiety (Cao et al. 2020); and considerable stress, anxiety, and depression have been reported among the general population in China (Wang et al. 2020). Similar findings are evident in other locations (Harper et al. 2020;Sorokin et al. 2020). Taking a different methodological approach, Knipe et al. ( 2020) analyzed trends in Google searches which indicated a rise of fear and excessive searches for self-care.Fear, as a multi-faceted factor, may be one of the most significant underlying elements that could lead to impairment of mental health conditions and well-being (Kumar and Nayar 2020). Given the prominent role that fear seems to have during COVID-19, Ahorsu et al. (2020) developed The Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), a 7-item unidimensional scale which assesses the severity of fears related to COVID-19. This instrument has been shown to have satisfactory psychometric characteristics and validity in multiple populations around the world (

Psychological states of Bangladeshi people four months after the COVID-19 pandemic: An online survey

“…Therefore, making contact with infected person imposes tremendous pressure on mental health which may lead to develop mental health problems. In line with previous studies ( Xiong et al., 2020 ; Zolotov et al., 2020 ), the present study also showed that fear of infection is directly associated with mental health problems. Individuals fear either of having COVID-19 themselves or of becoming asymptomatic carriers who spread the disease unknowingly to family and friends, contributing to psychiatric symptoms ( Lu et al., 2020 ; Wang et al., 2020a ).…”

Development and initial psychometric properties of a panic buying scale during COVID-19 pandemic

“…Although female reported higher rates of fear of COVID-19 than males ( Bitan et al, 2020 ; Broche-Pérez et al, 2020 ; Zolotov et al, 2020 ; Sakib et al, 2020 ), our findings revealed that men showed higher levels of panic buying than woman. Accordingly, even though men feel less fear than women, the relationship between worry and buying is more predominant in men ( Clemens et al, 2020 ) This results also shed light regarding the coping strategies used by gender face of fear, revealing that excessive buying could be more associate with males.…”

Role of Emotion in Excessive Use of Twitter During COVID-19 Imposed Lockdown in India

“…Several researchers found that the pandemic and the lockdowns are resulting in anxiety and depression in a large proportion of the population (Ahmed et al 2020;Kaparounaki et al 2020;Odriozola-González et al 2020;Rajkumar 2020). People are also suffering from loneliness (Killgore et al 2020), stress (Odriozola-González et al 2020; Rajkumar 2020), fear (Doshi et al 2020;Zolotov et al 2020), insomnia (Voitsidis et al 2020), and altered drinking behavior (Lechner et al 2020;Rodriguez et al 2020). Some people are getting more sleep, but of poorer quality, during the lockdowns (Kaparounaki et al 2020).…”