Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Soc Sci Med. 2023 Jan;317:115585. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115585. Epub 2022 Dec 5.
Based on an established ongoing prospective-longitudinal study examining anxiety in response to COVID-19, a representative sample of 1018 Jewish-Israeli adults were recruited online. A baseline assessment was employed two days prior to the first spread of COVID-19, followed by six weekly assessments. Three classes of general anxiety and virus-specific anxiety were identified: (1) "Panic" (a very high and stable anxiety throughout the spread), (2) "Complacency" (a very low and stable anxiety throughout the spread), and (3) "Threat-Sensitivity" (a linear increase, plateauing at the 5th wave). For general-anxiety only, a fourth, "Balanced," class was identified, exhibiting a stable, middle-level of anxiety. We tested theory-based, baseline, social-cognitive predictors of these classes: self-criticism, perceived social support, and perceptions/attitudes towards the Israeli Ministry of Health. We also controlled for trait anxiety. Multinomial regression analyses in the context of General Mixture Modeling were utilized.
Baseline virus-specific anxiety linearly predicted emerging virus-specific anxiety classes. Virus-specific panic has higher trait anxiety than the other two classes. The general anxiety panic class was over-represented by women and exhibited higher baseline general anxiety and self-criticism than all other classes, and higher baseline virus-specific anxiety along with lower perceived support and less positive perceptions of the ministry of health than two of the three other classes.
Preexisting anxiety shapes subsequent anxious responses to the spread of COVID-19. The general-anxiety panic class may be markedly demoralized, requiring targeted public-health interventions.
基于一项正在进行的前瞻性纵向研究，该研究考察了人们对 COVID-19 的焦虑反应，我们招募了 1018 名有代表性的犹太以色列成年人进行在线研究。在 COVID-19 首次传播前两天进行基线评估，然后每周评估六次。确定了三类一般焦虑和病毒特异性焦虑：（1）“恐慌”（整个传播过程中非常高且稳定的焦虑）；（2）“自满”（整个传播过程中非常低且稳定的焦虑）；（3）“威胁敏感性”（线性增加，在第 5 波达到峰值）。对于一般焦虑，我们还确定了第四种，“平衡”，表现出稳定的中等焦虑水平。我们测试了这些类别的基于理论的、基线的、社会认知预测因素：自我批评、感知社会支持以及对以色列卫生部的看法和态度。我们还控制了特质焦虑。在一般混合模型的背景下，利用多项回归分析。
基线病毒特异性焦虑线性预测了新兴的病毒特异性焦虑类别。病毒特异性恐慌比其他两个类别具有更高的特质焦虑。一般焦虑恐慌类人群中女性比例过高，与其他所有类别相比，基线一般焦虑和自我批评水平更高，基线病毒特异性焦虑水平更高，感知支持水平更低，对卫生部的看法和态度也不如其他三个类别中的两个类别积极。
预先存在的焦虑会影响对 COVID-19 传播的后续焦虑反应。一般焦虑恐慌类人群可能明显士气低落，需要有针对性的公共卫生干预措施。
