Pandemic panic? Results of a 14-month longitudinal study on fear of COVID-19.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Fear is an evolutionary adaptive emotion that serves to protect the organism from harm. Once a threat diminishes, fear should also dissipate as otherwise fear may become chronic and pathological. While actual threat of the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., number of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths) has substantially varied over the course of the pandemic, it remains unclear whether (subjective) fear has followed a similar pattern.

Method

To examine the development of fear of COVID-19 during the pandemic and investigate potential predictors of chronic fear, we conducted a large online longitudinal study (N = 2000) using the Prolific platform between April 2020 and June 2021. Participants were voluntary response samples and consisted of residents of 34 different cou

SUBMITTER: Mertens G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9650507 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature