Not all worries were created equal: the case of COVID-19 anxiety

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate possible differences in COVID-19–related anxiety based on previous theories in social psychology. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional online questionnaire delivered via the crowdworking platform. METHODS: Four-hundred and seven (120 men and 287 women) adults (aged >18 years) from the United Kingdom answered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory ‘in light of the COVID-19 situation’, followed by three health and three financial anxiety items. RESULTS: Our findings imply that women are more anxious than men, people are more anxious about others than about themselves, their anxiety about relatives is higher than about strangers, and anxiety about health is higher than about financial issues. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that these preliminary findings should be further investigated to help policymakers improve both their treatment of pandemic-related anxiety and their messages.