The Effect of COVID-19 Anxiety on General Health: the Role of COVID-19 Coping

• Published in: International journal of mental health and addiction Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 1110 - 1121
• Main Authors: Yıldırım, Murat, Akgül, Ömer, Geçer, Ekmel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-04-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anxiety; Community and Environmental Psychology; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Health Psychology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original; Original Article; Psychiatry; Psychology; Public Health; Rehabilitation; China; Turkey; COVID-19 coping; Coronavirus; General health; COVID-19 anxiety
• ISSN: 1557-1874; 1557-1882
• DOI: 10.1007/s11469-020-00429-3

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has unprecedently affected many aspects of people’s lives including their health. This study examined the mediating effect of COVID-19 coping strategies on the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and general health. Participants (70% females) included 4624 adults (
M
age
 = 30.29 ± 10.97 years) collected through an online survey using a convenience sampling approach. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded a one-factor structure for the COVID-19 Anxiety Scale (CFI = .98, TLI = .96, SRMR = .02, RMSEA = .09), COVID-19 Coping Scale (CFI = .97, TLI = .97, SRMR = .03, RMSEA = .12), and General Health Scale (CFI = .99, TLI = .97, SRMR = .01, RMSEA = .04) which were developed for the purpose of this study and exhibited satisfactory reliability. Findings showed that COVID-19 anxiety was negatively related with COVID-19 coping and general health. COVID-19 coping had a positive relationship with general health. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that COVID-19 coping partially mediated the relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and general health. These findings shed more light on the mechanism underlying between COVID-19 anxiety and health. The findings are important for tailoring and implementing coping-based intervention strategies to reduce the impact of COVID-19 anxiety on general health.