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Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression

Depression is a disabling illness which increases the risk of suicide. The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a rise in fear, anxiety, stress, and depression among the population: of these, university undergraduates from countries severely affected by COVID-19 are some of the m...

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Autores principales: Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Antonio J., Pantaleón, Yisela, Dios, Irene, Falla, Daniel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7674167/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33224080
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.591797
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author Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Antonio J.
Pantaleón, Yisela
Dios, Irene
Falla, Daniel
author_facet Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Antonio J.
Pantaleón, Yisela
Dios, Irene
Falla, Daniel
author_sort Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Antonio J.
collection PubMed
description Depression is a disabling illness which increases the risk of suicide. The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a rise in fear, anxiety, stress, and depression among the population: of these, university undergraduates from countries severely affected by COVID-19 are some of the most vulnerable of all, as they face strict lockdown measures and have fewer resources to cope with it. The aim of this study was to analyze the levels of fear of COVID-19, stress, anxiety, and depression during lockdown among undergraduates from Ecuador, and to test these possible predictors of depression using a model taken from our study of the scientific literature. A total of 640 undergraduates (72% women) between 18 and 47 years old (M = 21.69; S.D = 4.093) were surveyed. The resulting mean levels found for stress, anxiety, and depression were above levels considered non-pathological. Women showed higher levels of fear of COVID-19 than men. The statistical prediction for depression showed a good fit. This depression could be related: both directly and positively by fear of COVID-19 and stress, and indirectly, as a result of these two factors, positively mediated by anxiety. Our study concludes by highlighting the important role that the complex relationships between fear, stress, and anxiety can play in the development of depression symptoms and how they can be taken into account in programs aimed at preventing and alleviating this disorder. We propose some general measures for reducing fear of COVID-19 and stress and suggest that specific programs be designed to control and overcome anxiety among undergraduates.
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spelling pubmed-76741672020-11-19 Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Antonio J. Pantaleón, Yisela Dios, Irene Falla, Daniel Front Psychol Psychology Depression is a disabling illness which increases the risk of suicide. The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a rise in fear, anxiety, stress, and depression among the population: of these, university undergraduates from countries severely affected by COVID-19 are some of the most vulnerable of all, as they face strict lockdown measures and have fewer resources to cope with it. The aim of this study was to analyze the levels of fear of COVID-19, stress, anxiety, and depression during lockdown among undergraduates from Ecuador, and to test these possible predictors of depression using a model taken from our study of the scientific literature. A total of 640 undergraduates (72% women) between 18 and 47 years old (M = 21.69; S.D = 4.093) were surveyed. The resulting mean levels found for stress, anxiety, and depression were above levels considered non-pathological. Women showed higher levels of fear of COVID-19 than men. The statistical prediction for depression showed a good fit. This depression could be related: both directly and positively by fear of COVID-19 and stress, and indirectly, as a result of these two factors, positively mediated by anxiety. Our study concludes by highlighting the important role that the complex relationships between fear, stress, and anxiety can play in the development of depression symptoms and how they can be taken into account in programs aimed at preventing and alleviating this disorder. We propose some general measures for reducing fear of COVID-19 and stress and suggest that specific programs be designed to control and overcome anxiety among undergraduates. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-11-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7674167/ /pubmed/33224080 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.591797 Text en Copyright © 2020 Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Pantaleón, Dios and Falla. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Antonio J.
Pantaleón, Yisela
Dios, Irene
Falla, Daniel
Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression
title Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression
title_full Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression
title_fullStr Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression
title_full_unstemmed Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression
title_short Fear of COVID-19, Stress, and Anxiety in University Undergraduate Students: A Predictive Model for Depression
title_sort fear of covid-19, stress, and anxiety in university undergraduate students: a predictive model for depression
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7674167/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33224080
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.591797
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