Relationship between fear of COVID-19 and individual factors – a preliminary study

Abstract

Introduction Fear associated to infectious diseases is directly related with their transmission rate, morbidity and mortality. High levels of fear associated with COVID-19 can affect people’s ability to act and think rationally. In a time of pandemics, it is essential to understand individual factors that might be associated to higher vulnerability to stress and fear. Objectives To analyse: a)correlations between Fear of Covid-19 and clinical and sociodemographic characteristics; b)the mediator role of repetitive negative thinking on the relationship between personality traits and Fear of Covid-19. Methods 234 adults (75.6% women; mean age=29.53±12.51) completed an on-line survey with the Portuguese version of the Fear of Covid-19 Scale (FCV-19S) and other questionnaires to evaluate clinical and sociodemographic characteristics (years of education, perceived physical and mental health and infection by Covid-19), Personality (NEO-FFI-20) and Repetitive negative thinking (PTQ-15). SPSS and Process Macro (Hays, 2020) were used. Results FCV-19 mean scores were significantly higher in women and significantly correlated with years of education (r=-.14) (p.20, p