Abstract
Psychological stress reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic are complex and multifaceted. Research provides evidence of a COVID Stress Syndrome (CSS), consisting of (1) worry about the dangerousness of getting infected with SARSCoV2 and coming into contact with infected surfaces, (2) worry concerning the personal socioeconomic consequences of COVID-19, (3) xenophobic fears that SARSCOV2 is being spread by foreigners, (4) COVID-19-related traumatic stress symptoms (e.g., nightmares), and (5) compulsive checking and reassurance-seeking about COVID-19. Little is known about how these symptoms are related to vulnerability and protective personality factors. Based on data from 1,976 US and Canadian adults, we conducted a prospective network analysis in which personality factors were initially assessed at Time 1 and then symptoms of the CSS were assessed at Time 2, 2.5 months later. Results indicated that trait optimism and trait resilience were negatively associated with negative emotionality, suggesting a modulatory (inhibitory) influence. Negative emotionality was positively linked to the narrower traits of intolerance of uncertainty and health anxiety proneness. These narrower traits, in turn, were prospectively linked to symptoms of the CSS. Results suggest that the effects of broad personality traits (e.g., negative emotionality, trait resilience) on symptoms of the CSS were mediated by narrower traits such as the intolerance of uncertainty. Treatment implications are discussed.
Highlights
The understanding of COVID-19-related distress has rapidly evolved since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus
The syndrome is essentially dimensional in terms of severity (Taylor et al, 2020a), for diagnostic purposes people can be classified as having a COVID Stress Disorder if they have severe impairment in social or occupational functioning due to COVID19-related distress (Asmundson and Taylor, 2020)
For example, the edge connecting trait intolerance of uncertainty with health anxiety proneness (Figure 1) is a regularized partial correlation that controls for the effects of other nodes on those two variables
Summary
The understanding of COVID-19-related distress has rapidly evolved since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The syndrome is essentially dimensional in terms of severity (Taylor et al, 2020a), for diagnostic purposes people can be classified as having a COVID Stress Disorder if they have severe impairment in social or occupational functioning due to COVID19-related distress (Asmundson and Taylor, 2020). It is currently unclear whether this disorder is a form of adjustment reaction that abates when the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, or whether it will become chronic for some people. The CSS is currently conceptualized as an adjustment disorder, but that does not imply that it is evanescent, because some adjustment disorders can transform into chronic conditions (Taylor, 2021)
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