How did Tunisian university students cope with fear of COVID-19? A comparison across schizotypy features

BACKGROUND: Little consideration has been given to the impact of COVID-19 on people at risk of psychosis despite their particular preexisting vulnerability. We aimed to examine the role of coping strategies in determining the levels of fear in nonclinical students with high levels of self-reported schizotypal personality traits as compared to low-schizotypy controls. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional survey. The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale and The Brief-Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced were used. RESULTS: High-schizotypy students had significantly higher maladaptive strategies scores and higher levels of fear of COVID-19 as compared to low-schizotypy students. Multivariate analyses have shown that high-schizotypy individuals were likely to rely on coping responses that are maladaptive (venting) and have potential exacerbating effects on fear of COVID-19, whereas low-schizotypy individuals were likely to use adaptive responses (acceptance) that seemed to be effective in reducing fear of COVID-19. CONCLUSION: This study provided preliminary cross-sectional evidence for a differential impact of COVID-19 on individuals according to their schizotypy features. However, larger longitudinal population-based studies are necessary to confirm our findings.