Abstract
BackgroundResearch shows that the COVID Stress Scales have a robust multifactorial structure, representing five correlated facets of COVID‐19‐related distress: (a) Fear of the dangerousness of COVID‐19, which includes fear of coming into contact with fomites potentially contaminated with SARSCoV2, (b) worry about socioeconomic costs of COVID‐19 (e.g., worry about personal finances and disruption in the supply chain), (c) xenophobic fears that foreigners are spreading SARSCoV2, (d) traumatic stress symptoms associated with direct or vicarious traumatic exposure to COVID‐19 (nightmares, intrusive thoughts, or images related to COVID‐19), and (e) COVID‐19‐related compulsive checking and reassurance seeking. These factors cohere to form a COVID stress syndrome, which we sought to further delineate in the present study.MethodsA population‐representative sample of 6,854 American and Canadian adults completed a self‐report survey comprising questions about current mental health and COVID‐19‐related experiences, distress, and coping.ResultsNetwork analysis revealed that worry about the dangerousness of COVID‐19 is the central feature of the syndrome. Latent class analysis indicated that the syndrome is quasi‐dimensional, comprising five classes differing in syndrome severity. Sixteen percent of participants were in the most severe class and possibly needing mental health services. Syndrome severity was correlated with preexisting psychopathology and with excessive COVID‐19‐related avoidance, panic buying, and coping difficulties during self‐isolation.ConclusionThe findings provide new information about the structure and correlates of COVID stress syndrome. Further research is needed to determine whether the syndrome will abate once the pandemic has passed or whether, for some individuals, it becomes a chronic condition.
Highlights
There has been widespread emotional distress in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic
Research and clinical observations from previous pandemics and other outbreaks suggest that the scope of distress‐related symptoms is much broader (Taylor, 2019), which led to the development of a multifactorial measure of COVID‐19‐related distress (Taylor et al, 2020)
The factors are (a) DAN: Fear of the dangerousness of COVID‐19 and fear of contact with fomites potentially contaminated with SARSCoV2, (b) SEC: Worry about the socioeconomic costs of COVID‐19, (c) XEN: Xenophobic fears that foreigners are spreading SARSCoV2, (d) TSS: Traumatic stress symptoms associated with direct or vicarious traumatic exposure to COVID‐19 (i.e., COVID‐19‐related nightmares, intrusive thoughts, or images), and (e) CHE: COVID‐19‐related compulsive checking and reassurance seeking
Summary
There has been widespread emotional distress in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Data from China, for example, suggests that 25% of the general population have experienced moderate to severe levels of stress‐ or anxiety‐related symptoms in response to COVID‐19 (Qiu et al, 2020; Wang et al, 2020). The purpose of the present study was to extend the analysis of the data set reported on by Taylor et al (2020) in several ways: (a) to investigate the internal structure of the syndrome via network analysis, (b) to investigate whether the syndrome is dimensional or multicategorical via latent class analysis, (c) to examine the premorbid correlates of the syndrome, (d) to investigate the concurrent correlates of the syndrome in terms of indices of current distress, and (e) to investigate how the syndrome is related to various aspects of stress and coping with self‐isolation, given that the sample was instructed by health authorities to comply with voluntary self‐isolation as part of social distancing protocols to limit the spread of infection. The overarching goal was to obtain findings that can be used to guide targeted intervention efforts for reducing distress associated with COVID‐19
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