1Department of General Studies, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria.
4Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2021 Jul 8;105(3):701-707. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.20-0994.
Since COVID-19 currently has no proven cure but high morbidity and mortality, many people are living in fear of the virus along with other mental health challenges induced by the lockdowns and social distancing. Hence, this study aims to provide evidence on the co-occurrence and inter-relations between the fear of COVID-19, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and psychological distress in adherence to preventive health behavior among Nigerians. It also seeks to determine whether this process differs for men and women. The sample comprised 1,172 consenting young adults (mean age = 22.9 ± 6.6 years, 54.5% females) selected using a snowball sampling technique. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the mediation model of post-traumatic stress symptoms and psychological distress as parallel and serial mediators of the relationship between the fear of COVID-19 and preventive health behavior. The indirect effect of the fear of COVID-19 on preventive health behavior across gender was tested using moderation analysis. Results showed that post-traumatic stress symptoms and psychological distress serially and fully, in causal order, mediated the association between the fear of COVID-19 and preventive health behavior, and gender moderated the mediation effects. The research provides evidence that the fear of COVID-19 could trigger preventive health behavior through post-traumatic stress symptoms but reduces it through psychological distress, whereas the fear of COVID-19 has a slightly more positive impact on preventive health behavior among men.
由于 COVID-19 目前尚无特效疗法，但发病率和死亡率较高，许多人对该病毒感到恐惧，再加上封锁和社交隔离带来的其他心理健康挑战，因此人们的生活受到了严重影响。因此，本研究旨在为以下问题提供证据：在尼日利亚，人们对 COVID-19 的恐惧、创伤后应激症状与心理困扰之间是否共同发生，以及与预防保健行为之间的相互关系。本研究还试图确定这一过程是否因性别而异。该样本由 1172 名同意的年轻成年人组成（平均年龄= 22.9 ± 6.6 岁，女性占 54.5%），采用雪球抽样技术选择。使用结构方程模型（SEM）检验创伤后应激症状和心理困扰作为 COVID-19 恐惧与预防保健行为之间关系的平行和串行中介的中介模型。使用调节分析检验 COVID-19 恐惧对预防保健行为的性别间间接效应。结果表明，创伤后应激症状和心理困扰以因果顺序串联且完全中介了 COVID-19 恐惧与预防保健行为之间的关联，并且性别调节了中介效应。研究结果表明，COVID-19 恐惧可能通过创伤后应激症状引发预防保健行为，但通过心理困扰会降低这种行为，而 COVID-19 恐惧对男性预防保健行为的影响略为积极。
