The latent and item structure of COVID-19 fear: A comparison of four COVID-19 fear questionnaires using SEM and network analyses

Abstract

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), several reports have shown that fear relating to COVID-19 has sharply increased. To measure fear of COVID-19, various questionnaires have been developed in parallel. However, fear concerning COVID-19 is not necessarily a uniform construct and the different questionnaires may cover diverse aspects. To examine the underlying structure of fear of COVID-19, we conducted structural equation modelling and network analyses on four scales in an online convenience sample ( N = 829). Particularly, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (Ahorsu et al., 2020), the Fear of the Coronavirus Questionnaire (Mertens et al., 2020), and the COVID Stress Scales (Taylor, Landry, Paluszek, Fergus et al., 2020, Taylor, Landry, Paluszek, Rachor et al., 2020) were included in our study, along with a new scale that also assessed socio-economic worries relating to COVID-19. We found that fear of COVID-19 was best classified into four clusters: Fear of health-related consequences, fear of supplies shortages and xenophobia, fear about socio-economic consequences, and symptoms of fear (e.g., compulsions, nightmares). We also find that a central cluster of items centered on fear of health, which likely represents the core of fear of COVID-19. These results help to characterize fear due to COVID-19 and inform future research.

The Polish COVID Stress Scales: Considerations of psychometric functioning, measurement invariance, and validity

“…Positive correlations between the FCV-19S and CSS have been also demonstrated in other studies aiming at developing non-English versions of the CSS-PL (e.g., the Persian and Arabic versions of the CCS [ 11 , 44 ]. This pattern of associations between the CSS and FCV-19S also suggest that the FCV-19S appears to capture two constructs measured by the CSS, i.e., the danger and contamination and the traumatic symptoms and checking constructs [ 48 ]. The CSS-PL scales also demonstrated moderate to large associations with measures of anxiety-related traits and obsessive-compulsive symptoms.…”

“…Indeed, although our investigation included participants across a wide age range (from 18 to 85 years), participants 60 years and older represented only 17.30% of the total sample ( n = 96). This age group is particularly salient given the mortality rates of COVID-19, and potentially more COVID-19 fear, among older individuals [ 48 ]. Further, our sample was over 60% female, and there is evidence for gender differences in regard to attitudes and behaviors towards COVID-19 (e.g., women were more likely to perceive COVID-19 as a very serious health problem and support/comply with restrictive public policies in response to COVID-19 [ 49 ].…”

COVID-19 Fear, Resilience, Social Support, Anxiety, and Suicide among College Students in Spain

“…Similarly, Ralph [42] considered fear as an intervening variable between sets of context-dependent stimuli and suites of behavioral responses. A wide range of threats can elicit fear, and given that COVID-19 is affecting our lives in many ways (e.g., on a social, economic, relational, and professional level), fears elicited by COVID-19 may be considerably heterogeneous [43]. Fear can be beneficial or detrimental to mental and physical health during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Fear of COVID-19 predicts vaccination willingness 14 months later

“…Another limitation is that fear of COVID-19 was only measured with one specific scale (i.e., the FCQ developed by . However, prior research has found that fear of COVID-19 is a multifaceted construct that also includes concerns about the socio-economic consequences of COVID, xenophobia, and stress-related symptoms (e.g., nightmares) (Mertens et al, 2021;Taylor et al, 2020). It is possible that these other facets of fear of COVID-19 are FEAR PREDICTS VACCINATION WILLINGNESS 22 also related to vaccination willingness.…”