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COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates

BACKGROUND: Research shows that the COVID Stress Scales have a robust multifactorial structure, representing five correlated facets of COVID‐19‐related distress: (a) Fear of the dangerousness of COVID‐19, which includes fear of coming into contact with fomites potentially contaminated with SARSCoV2,...

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Autores principales: Taylor, Steven, Landry, Caeleigh A., Paluszek, Michelle M., Fergus, Thomas A., McKay, Dean, Asmundson, Gordon J. G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7362150/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32627255
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.23071
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author Taylor, Steven
Landry, Caeleigh A.
Paluszek, Michelle M.
Fergus, Thomas A.
McKay, Dean
Asmundson, Gordon J. G.
author_facet Taylor, Steven
Landry, Caeleigh A.
Paluszek, Michelle M.
Fergus, Thomas A.
McKay, Dean
Asmundson, Gordon J. G.
author_sort Taylor, Steven
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Research shows that the COVID Stress Scales have a robust multifactorial structure, representing five correlated facets of COVID‐19‐related distress: (a) Fear of the dangerousness of COVID‐19, which includes fear of coming into contact with fomites potentially contaminated with SARSCoV2, (b) worry about socioeconomic costs of COVID‐19 (e.g., worry about personal finances and disruption in the supply chain), (c) xenophobic fears that foreigners are spreading SARSCoV2, (d) traumatic stress symptoms associated with direct or vicarious traumatic exposure to COVID‐19 (nightmares, intrusive thoughts, or images related to COVID‐19), and (e) COVID‐19‐related compulsive checking and reassurance seeking. These factors cohere to form a COVID stress syndrome, which we sought to further delineate in the present study. METHODS: A population‐representative sample of 6,854 American and Canadian adults completed a self‐report survey comprising questions about current mental health and COVID‐19‐related experiences, distress, and coping. RESULTS: Network analysis revealed that worry about the dangerousness of COVID‐19 is the central feature of the syndrome. Latent class analysis indicated that the syndrome is quasi‐dimensional, comprising five classes differing in syndrome severity. Sixteen percent of participants were in the most severe class and possibly needing mental health services. Syndrome severity was correlated with preexisting psychopathology and with excessive COVID‐19‐related avoidance, panic buying, and coping difficulties during self‐isolation. CONCLUSION: The findings provide new information about the structure and correlates of COVID stress syndrome. Further research is needed to determine whether the syndrome will abate once the pandemic has passed or whether, for some individuals, it becomes a chronic condition.
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spelling pubmed-73621502020-07-15 COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates Taylor, Steven Landry, Caeleigh A. Paluszek, Michelle M. Fergus, Thomas A. McKay, Dean Asmundson, Gordon J. G. Depress Anxiety Research Articles BACKGROUND: Research shows that the COVID Stress Scales have a robust multifactorial structure, representing five correlated facets of COVID‐19‐related distress: (a) Fear of the dangerousness of COVID‐19, which includes fear of coming into contact with fomites potentially contaminated with SARSCoV2, (b) worry about socioeconomic costs of COVID‐19 (e.g., worry about personal finances and disruption in the supply chain), (c) xenophobic fears that foreigners are spreading SARSCoV2, (d) traumatic stress symptoms associated with direct or vicarious traumatic exposure to COVID‐19 (nightmares, intrusive thoughts, or images related to COVID‐19), and (e) COVID‐19‐related compulsive checking and reassurance seeking. These factors cohere to form a COVID stress syndrome, which we sought to further delineate in the present study. METHODS: A population‐representative sample of 6,854 American and Canadian adults completed a self‐report survey comprising questions about current mental health and COVID‐19‐related experiences, distress, and coping. RESULTS: Network analysis revealed that worry about the dangerousness of COVID‐19 is the central feature of the syndrome. Latent class analysis indicated that the syndrome is quasi‐dimensional, comprising five classes differing in syndrome severity. Sixteen percent of participants were in the most severe class and possibly needing mental health services. Syndrome severity was correlated with preexisting psychopathology and with excessive COVID‐19‐related avoidance, panic buying, and coping difficulties during self‐isolation. CONCLUSION: The findings provide new information about the structure and correlates of COVID stress syndrome. Further research is needed to determine whether the syndrome will abate once the pandemic has passed or whether, for some individuals, it becomes a chronic condition. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2020-07-05 2020-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7362150/ /pubmed/32627255 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.23071 Text en © 2020 The Authors. Depression and Anxiety published by Wiley Periodicals LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Taylor, Steven
Landry, Caeleigh A.
Paluszek, Michelle M.
Fergus, Thomas A.
McKay, Dean
Asmundson, Gordon J. G.
COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates
title COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates
title_full COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates
title_fullStr COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates
title_full_unstemmed COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates
title_short COVID stress syndrome: Concept, structure, and correlates
title_sort covid stress syndrome: concept, structure, and correlates
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7362150/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32627255
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.23071
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