Association between fear of COVID-19 and hoarding behavior during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of mental health status

Hoarding behavior can effectively improve people's ability to resist risks, so as to reduce the negative effects of risks. However, excessive hoarding behavior will seriously reduce people's quality of life. The COVID-19 pandemic can cause excessive hoarding in a large number of people in a short period of time, and also cause a series of economic problems such as social material shortage. It is unclear how hoarding levels are linked to fear and negative emotions caused by COVID-19 among people of different educational backgrounds and social status. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and hoarding behavior in different populations in school and social contexts, as well as the mediating role of negative emotions and the moderating role of subjective/objective social status and education level in this process. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in various provinces in China in January 2022. Demographic information, the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status, the Fear of COVID-19 scale, the Depression Anxiety Stress-21, and the Saving Inventory-Revised were used to evaluate the severity of individual hoarding symptoms, the frequency of hoarding, the degree of fear, and the negative emotions (depression, anxiety, stress) caused by COVID-19. Research data showed that fear of COVID-19 was significantly correlated with hoarding behavior (p < 0.05). Fear of COVID-19 was significantly lower in the student sample than in the nonstudent sample (p < 0.05). Negative emotions played a mediating role in the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and hoarding behavior (p < 0.05). Educational and economic levels moderated this process, but social status did not. Compared with the student sample, educational background and income had less of a moderating effect on the depression, anxiety, and stress caused by fear of COVID-19 in the nonstudent sample. However, these factors had a more regulative effect on the clutter and excessive acquisition behavior caused by depression, anxiety, and stress, although not on difficulty discarding. These findings suggest that reduce negative emotions in the population, improve cognitive levels, and provide financial support from governments may be effective ways to reduce hoarding symptoms.