TY - JOUR
T1 - Predictors of anxiety in the COVID-19 pandemic from a global perspective
T2 - Data from 23 countries
AU - Burkova, Valentina N.
AU - Butovskaya, Marina L.
AU - Randall, Ashley K.
AU - Fedenok, Julija N.
AU - Ahmadi, Khodabakhsh
AU - Alghraibeh, Ahmad M.
AU - Allami, Fathil Bakir Mutsher
AU - Alpaslan, Fadime Suata
AU - Al-Zu’bi, Mohammad Ahmad Abdelaziz
AU - Biçer, Derya Fatma
AU - Cetinkaya, Hakan
AU - David, Oana Alexandra
AU - Donato, Silvia
AU - Dural, Seda
AU - Erickson, Paige
AU - Ermakov, Alexey M.
AU - Ertuğrul, Berna
AU - Fayankinnu, Emmanuel Abiodun
AU - Fisher, Maryanne L.
AU - Hocker, Lauren
AU - Hromatko, Ivana
AU - Kasparova, Elena
AU - Kavina, Alexander
AU - Khatatbeh, Yahya M.
AU - Khun-Inkeeree, Hareesol
AU - Kline, Kai M.
AU - Koç, Fırat
AU - Kolodkin, Vladimir
AU - Maceacheron, Melanie
AU - Maruf, Irma Rachmawati
AU - Meskó, Norbert
AU - Mkrtchyan, Ruzan
AU - Nurisnaeny, Poppy Setiawati
AU - Ojedokun, Oluyinka
AU - Omar-Fauzee, Mohd S.B.
AU - Özener, Barış
AU - Ponciano, Edna Lúcia Tinoco
AU - Rizwan, Muhammad
AU - Sabiniewicz, Agnieszka
AU - Spodina, Victoriya I.
AU - Stoyanova, Stanislava
AU - Tripathi, Nachiketa
AU - Upadhyay, Satwik
AU - Weisfeld, Carol
AU - Yaakob, Mohd Faiz Mohd
AU - Yusof, Mat Rahimi
AU - Zinurova, Raushaniia I.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: In Russia (V.N.B., M.L.B., J.F.), this article was prepared in the framework of a research grant funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant ID: 075-15-2020-910). The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding this work through Support to Ahmad M. Alghraibeh (Saudi Arabia). Data collection in Hungary was supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) awarded to the twenty-seventh author (K125437).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors.
PY - 2021/4/1
Y1 - 2021/4/1
N2 - Prior and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have resulted in substantial changes to everyday life. The pandemic and measures of its control affect mental health negatively. Self-reported data from 15,375 participants from 23 countries were collected from May to August 2020 during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two questionnaires measuring anxiety level were used in this study—the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), and the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). The associations between a set of social indicators on anxiety during COVID-19 (e.g., sex, age, country, live alone) were tested as well. Self-reported anxiety during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic varied across countries, with the maximum levels reported for Brazil, Canada, Italy, Iraq and the USA. Sex differences of anxiety levels during COVID-19 were also examined, and results showed women reported higher levels of anxiety compared to men. Overall, our results demonstrated that the self-reported symptoms of anxiety were higher compared to those reported in general before pandemic. We conclude that such cultural dimensions as individualism/collectivism, power distance and looseness/tightness may function as protective adaptive mechanisms against the development of anxiety disorders in a pandemic situation.
AB - Prior and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have resulted in substantial changes to everyday life. The pandemic and measures of its control affect mental health negatively. Self-reported data from 15,375 participants from 23 countries were collected from May to August 2020 during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two questionnaires measuring anxiety level were used in this study—the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), and the State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). The associations between a set of social indicators on anxiety during COVID-19 (e.g., sex, age, country, live alone) were tested as well. Self-reported anxiety during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic varied across countries, with the maximum levels reported for Brazil, Canada, Italy, Iraq and the USA. Sex differences of anxiety levels during COVID-19 were also examined, and results showed women reported higher levels of anxiety compared to men. Overall, our results demonstrated that the self-reported symptoms of anxiety were higher compared to those reported in general before pandemic. We conclude that such cultural dimensions as individualism/collectivism, power distance and looseness/tightness may function as protective adaptive mechanisms against the development of anxiety disorders in a pandemic situation.
KW - Anxiety
KW - COVID-19 pandemic
KW - Collectivism
KW - Cross-cultural
KW - Individualism
KW - Looseness
KW - Power distance
KW - SARS-CoV-2 infection
KW - Stress
KW - Tightness
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85104184486&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/su13074017
DO - 10.3390/su13074017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85104184486
VL - 13
JO - Sustainability
JF - Sustainability
SN - 2071-1050
IS - 7
M1 - 4017
ER -