Uncertainty in the Time of Corona

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic is having profound impacts on every sector of society, and New York City (NYC) emerged as an early epicenter of the disease. Given the novelty and scale of the disease, information surrounding COVID-19 has been marked by considerable uncertainty and confusion. Although various factors have been associated with COVID-19 distress, little is known about the relations between levels of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anxiety symptoms and behaviors. This cross-sectional study sought to examine potential correlates and pathways between anxiety and precautionary behaviors with the two levels of IU: prospective and inhibitory. Individuals from NYC (N = 99) completed an online survey through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings revealed that fear of COVID-19 accounts for associations between prospective IU and greater anxiety symptoms and behaviors, whereas precaution adherence accounts for associations between prospective IU and reduced anxiety symptoms and behaviors. In addition, precaution adherence accounts for associations between inhibitory IU and greater anxiety symptoms and behaviors. The results shed light on ways in which variations in IU may be associated with anxiety symptoms and behaviors in the context of COVID-19 and future pandemic scenarios.

Acceptance and adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures are shaped predominantly by conspiracy beliefs, mistrust in science and fear - A comparison of more than 20 psychological variables

“…In line with previous findings, we found that the specific fear of COVID-19 is strongly associated with high acceptance and adherence to the preventive measures (e.g., Carlucci et al, 2020;Jiwani et al, 2021;Kachanoff et al, 2021;Plohl & Musil, 2021;Reinders Folmer et al, 2020;Rothgerber et al, 2020;Vally, 2020). Fear of COVID-19 was also intercorrelated with fear of death and trait anxiety, and the latter tended to be positively associated with acceptance of the preventive measures.…”

“…However, fear of COVID-19 was the only fear-related variable that was associated with adherence to the preventive measures. The separate assessment of acceptance and adherence might help to explain previous mixed results regarding the role of trait anxiety (e.g., Ebrahimi et al, 2020;Jiwani et al, 2021;Siebenhaar et al, 2020). Specifically, our results indicate that trait anxiety influences how the pandemic situation is perceived and consequently shapes the attitude towards the preventive measures (Erceg et al, 2020;Sweeny & Dooley, 2017), but only the specific fear of COVID-19 is a reliable determinant of the actual preventive behaviour.…”

“…Specifically, the influence of trait anxiety as well as the more specific fear of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the fear of one's own death on the response to the preventive measures is investigated. Increased fear of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 is assumed to have a positive effect on adherence to the preventive measures (e.g., Carlucci et al, 2020;Jiwani et al, 2021;Kachanoff et al, 2021;Plohl & Musil, 2021;Reinders Folmer et al, 2020;Rothgerber et al, 2020;Vally, 2020). Trait anxiety is associated with higher fear of death (e.g., Hoelter & Hoelter, 1978) and protective health behaviour (Erceg et al, 2020;Sweeny & Dooley, 2017).…”

“…Trait anxiety is associated with higher fear of death (e.g., Hoelter & Hoelter, 1978) and protective health behaviour (Erceg et al, 2020;Sweeny & Dooley, 2017). Subsequently, it can be expected that high trait anxiety is associated with a more strict adherence to the preventive measures, even though there is mixed evidence for such an assumption, with studies showing positive, negative, or no such association (e.g., Ebrahimi et al, 2020;Jiwani et al, 2021;Siebenhaar et al, 2020). For the purpose of the present study, it was hypothesized that a higher level of trait anxiety would be associated with a higher level of the more specific fear of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 and also with a higher level of fear of one's own death, and it will be examined which of those facets of fear/anxiety are directly associated with acceptance and adherence to the preventive measures.…”

“…Given the undeniable importance of adhering to the preventive measures for the prevention of SARS-CoV-2 spread, researchers have begun to study psychological variables that may explain individual differences in response to the preventive measures. It has for example been shown that high levels of fear of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 (e.g., Carlucci et al, 2020;Jiwani et al, 2021;Kachanoff et al, 2021;Plohl & Musil, 2021;Reinders Folmer et al, 2020;Rothgerber et al, 2020;Vally, 2020), or the Big 5 personality traits agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness (e.g., Brouard et al, 2020;Krupić et al, 2021;Wright et al, 2021) are associated with higher adherence to the COVID-19 preventive measures. The opposite is true for high levels of impulsiveness, mistrust in science or the government, or political conservatism (e.g., Plohl & Musil, 2021;Reinders Folmer et al, 2020;Rothgerber et al, 2020).…”