Does self-compassion relate to the fear of the future during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic? A cross-cultural study

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has a high impact on mental health, as for example, anxiety. It was the main goal of this study to investigate if rumination and worry mediate the possible relation of self-compassion and fear of the future in females and males of three European and three Middle Eastern countries during the coronavirus pandemic. 2765 men and women participated and answered questions regarding their fear of the future on the one hand and completed the reflection-rumination questionnaire, the Penn-state worry questionnaire, and the self-compassion scale. The results of a mediation analysis demonstrated a relation between self-compassion and fear of the future, which was mediated by worry but not by rumination, independent of gender and country. Furthermore, the fear of the future variable was predicted by different factors in each country. The only clear difference between the participants of the European and the Middle Eastern countries was that women show more fear of the future only in the European countries but not in the Middle Eastern countries. However, there were also differences between the three European and the three Middle Eastern countries. The results indicate that in general, psychological consequences of the coronavirus pandemic should be investigated for each country separately. It does not to seem possible to infer results from one country to another country even on the same continent.