Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Psychosocial determinants of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Wright, RN; Faul, L; Graner, JL; Stewart, GW; LaBar, KS
Published in: Journal of health psychology
September 2022

Pandemic health threats can cause considerable anxiety, but not all individuals react similarly. To understand the sources of this variability, we applied a theoretical model developed during the H1N1 pandemic of 2009 to quantify relationships among intolerance of uncertainty, stress appraisals, and coping style that predict anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic. We surveyed 1579 U.S. Amazon Mechanical Turk workers in April 2020. Using structural equation modeling, we found that individuals who were more intolerant of uncertainty reported higher appraisals of threat, stress, and other-control, which predicted higher anxiety when emotion-focused coping was engaged, and lower anxiety when problem-focused coping was engaged. Political affiliation moderated these effects, such that conservatives relied more on self-control and other-control appraisals to mitigate anxiety than independents or liberals. These results show that how people appraise and cope with their stress interacts with political ideology to shape anxiety in the face of a global health threat.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

Journal of health psychology

DOI

EISSN

1461-7277

ISSN

1359-1053

Publication Date

September 2022

Volume

27

Issue

10

Start / End Page

2344 / 2360

Related Subject Headings

  • Public Health
  • Pandemics
  • Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype
  • Humans
  • COVID-19
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Anxiety
  • 5203 Clinical and health psychology
  • 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Wright, R. N., Faul, L., Graner, J. L., Stewart, G. W., & LaBar, K. S. (2022). Psychosocial determinants of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Health Psychology, 27(10), 2344–2360. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053211030981
Wright, Rachael N., Leonard Faul, John L. Graner, Gregory W. Stewart, and Kevin S. LaBar. “Psychosocial determinants of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of Health Psychology 27, no. 10 (September 2022): 2344–60. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053211030981.
Wright RN, Faul L, Graner JL, Stewart GW, LaBar KS. Psychosocial determinants of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of health psychology. 2022 Sep;27(10):2344–60.
Wright, Rachael N., et al. “Psychosocial determinants of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of Health Psychology, vol. 27, no. 10, Sept. 2022, pp. 2344–60. Epmc, doi:10.1177/13591053211030981.
Wright RN, Faul L, Graner JL, Stewart GW, LaBar KS. Psychosocial determinants of anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of health psychology. 2022 Sep;27(10):2344–2360.
Journal cover image

Published In

Journal of health psychology

DOI

EISSN

1461-7277

ISSN

1359-1053

Publication Date

September 2022

Volume

27

Issue

10

Start / End Page

2344 / 2360

Related Subject Headings

  • Public Health
  • Pandemics
  • Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype
  • Humans
  • COVID-19
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Anxiety
  • 5203 Clinical and health psychology
  • 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences