Fear and anxiety in the face of COVID-19: Negative dispositions towards risk and uncertainty as vulnerability factors

Abstract

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic it is important to identify factors that make people particularly vulnerable of developing mental-health issues in order to provide case-specific treatments. In this article, we examine the roles of two psychological constructs – originally put forth in the behavioral decision sciences – in predicting interindividual differences in fear responses: general risk aversion (GRA) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU). We first provide a review of these constructs and illustrate why they may play important roles in shaping anxiety-related disorders. Thereafter we present an empirical study that collected survey data from 550 U.S. residents, comprising self-assessments of dispositions towards risk and uncertainty, anxiety- and depression levels, as well as demographic variables – to thus test the extent to which these psychological constructs are predictive of strong fear responses related to COVID-19 (i.e., mortal fear, racing heart). The results from Bayesian multi-model inference analyses showed that GRA and IU were more powerful predictors of fear responses than demographic variables. Moreover, the predictive power of these constructs was independent of general anxiety- and depression levels. Subsequent mediation analyses showed that the effects of GRA and IU were both direct and indirect via anxiety. We conclude by discussing possible treatment options, but also highlight that future research needs to further examine causal pathways and conceptual overlaps.

Worrying But Not Acting: The Role of Intolerance of Uncertainty in Explaining the Discrepancy in COVID-19-Related Responses

“…Specifically, IU predicts concerns about COVID-19 spreading (Wheaton et al, 2021), viral contamination fear and social distancing fear (Fedorenko et al, 2021), and level of worry surrounding contracting COVID-19 (Tull et al, 2020). IU is also related to overall COVID-19-related stress (Paluszek et al, 2021) and body vigilance (Fedorenko et al, 2021) and is associated with fear of COVID-19 (Akbari et al, 2021;Bakioglu et al, 2020;Deniz, 2021;Mertens et al, 2020;Millroth & Frey, 2021;Paluszek et al, 2021;Satici et al, 2020;Voitsidis et al, 2020; but see Sauer et al, 2020 for a dissenting finding).…”

Association between fear of COVID-19 and hoarding behavior during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of mental health status

“…Studies have shown that fear of COVID-19 can cause anxiety, depression and other mental diseases (Fitzpatrick et al, 2020;Nicomedes and Avila, 2020;Stein, 2020;Millroth and Frey, 2021; 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.996486…”

Times Are Harsh, Be Kind to Yourself! Anxiety, Life Satisfaction, and the Mediating Role of Self-Compassion

“…During the past two challenging years, the world has been through many difficult moments, many of them caused by the COVID-19 breakout. As a result, high levels of uncertainty marked these past COVID-19 years, along with fear, worry, anxiety, and general psychological distress (e.g., Deniz, 2021 ; Millroth and Frey, 2021 ; Voitsidis et al, 2021 ; Del-Valle et al, 2022 ). Since its outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 490,000,000 people worldwide, and over 6.1 million COVID-19 deaths have been reported ( Worldmeter, 2022 ).…”