The Relationship Between Fear of COVID-19 and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress A Meta-Analysis


Erbicer E. S., METİN A., Cetinkaya A., Sen S.

EUROPEAN PSYCHOLOGIST, cilt.26, sa.4, ss.323-333, 2021 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 26 Sayı: 4
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000464
  • Dergi Adı: EUROPEAN PSYCHOLOGIST
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, PASCAL, Psycinfo
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.323-333
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: fear of COVID-19, depression, anxiety, stress, meta-analysis, GENDER-DIFFERENCES, RESILIENCE, EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • Erciyes Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant effects on public health. Previous studies showed that the fear of COVID-19 was positively correlated with depression, anxiety, and stress. This study aims to compile and meta-analyze the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and depression, anxiety, and stress among the general population. The studies published between March 2020 and June 2021 were scanned from various databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science [ISI], and SCOPUS). Asa result of the literature search, 746 studies were reached, 88 studies were found suitable, and 21 met the inclusion criteria. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA Version 3.0) and metafor package in P were used for analyses. A strong relationship was observed between the fear of COVID-19 and anxiety (r = .55, p < .001); there were moderate relationships between the fear of COVID-19 and depression (r = .34, p < .001) and stress (r = .44, p < .001). All these relationships were significant. The results showed that the relationships between the fear of COVID-19 and depression, anxiety, and stress had a high level of heterogeneity. Meta-regression analyses revealed that the average of the sample age was a significant predictor of the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and anxiety. However, other covariates (female proportion and culture) were not statistically significant for the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and anxiety. None of these covariates was significant predictors of the relationship between fear of COVID-19 with depression and stress. Although the current meta-analysis has some limitations, the results revealed that the fear of COVID-19 is associated with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and stress.