Psychosocial predictors of virus and social distancing fears in undergraduate students living in a US COVID-19 “hotspot”

A Qualitative Study of COVID-19 Distress in University Students

“…Undergraduate students, at least 18 years of age and enrolled in at least three courses at a large state university in New Jersey, completed an online study on “how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting college students.” The baseline assessment for the study included demographic information (biological sex, age, race, ethnicity, and zip code of current residence), a narrative writing task (described below), as well as a variety of quantitative self-report instruments assessing students’ psychological distress, the results of which are reported elsewhere (Fedorenko et al, 2021; Kibbey et al, 2021). The qualitative data in this study have not been reported elsewhere.…”

“…Our previous quantitative analyses of psychological distress in this population revealed that students experienced elevated levels of anxiety, depression, and health anxiety during the outbreak, and that differing cognitive and affective vulnerabilities were related to heterogeneity in the distinct types of distress experienced. For example, students’ health anxiety was related to primary fear of contamination with the virus itself, while students’ depressive symptoms were related to secondary concerns about the effects of social distancing necessitated by the virus (Fedorenko et al, 2021; Kibbey et al, 2021). Shaped by the literature on psychiatric distress related to viral outbreaks reviewed above and our findings from these quantitative analyses, we utilized a thematic analysis of qualitative narratives in order to more fully understand and characterize the stress experience in response to COVID-19, and to inform the refinement and/or tailoring of COVID stress conceptualizations specific to university students.…”

Viral Anxiety Mediates the Influence of Intolerance of Uncertainty on Adherence to Physical Distancing Among Healthcare Workers in COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Although viral anxiety is thought to influence adherence to physical distancing, lower levels of anxiety and depression have also been reported to be associated with perceived compliance with physical distancing ( 16 ). Depression has been reported to be a predictor for physical distancing fears ( 17 ), while lower levels of depression have been reported to be associated with better adherence to measures of physical distancing ( 18 ). In general, high levels of depression have been associated with poor compliance to recommendations ( 19 ), and patients' depression is related to their non-adherence to medical treatment ( 20 ).…”

Interoceptive anxiety-related processes: Importance for understanding COVID-19 and future pandemic mental health and addictive behaviors and their comorbidity

“…Among health workers and public service providers in Norway ( n = 773), health anxiety was a significant predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a cross-sectional test even after controlling for a range of theoretically-relevant variables (e.g., burnout, depression; Johnson, Ebrahimi, & Hoffart, 2020 ). Research has also found small to moderate effect sizes ( sr 2 = 0.04) for health anxiety on fears related to contamination and illness in a cross-sectional study among a sample of undergraduate students in the U.S. ( n = 608; Fedorenko, Kibbey, Contrada, & Farris, 2021 ). Among a large sample of adults in the United Kingdom ( n = 2329), cross-sectional analysis revealed health anxiety was a significant predictor of stress ( Svensson & Elntib, 2021 ).…”