Gender and COVID-19 related fear and anxiety: A meta-analysis

Studies conducted during the pandemic revealed strong associations between gender and COVID-19 related fear and anxiety. Females perceive coronavirus as a greater threat to personal health and population than males. The aim of the current meta-analysis is to estimate gender difference in COVID-19 related fear and anxiety. The second purpose of this study is to clarify the role of potential moderators in COVID-19 fear and anxiety. For these reasons, studies published between March 2020 and October 2021 were searched in various databases (Web of Science, SCOPUS, PubMed, and Google Scholar). In total, 315 studies met the inclusion criteria, and 60 studies for COVID-19 related fear and 23 studies for COVID-19 related anxiety were included in the current study. Cohen's d effect size values were calculated based on these individual studies showing the difference between males and females in terms of COVID-19 related fear and anxiety. Results revealed that gender has a moderate and statistically significant effect on COVID-19 related fear (ES = 0.307) and anxiety (ES = 0.316) in favor of females. Moderator analyses showed that continent variable was a statistically significant moderator of gender difference in COVID-19 related fear and anxiety. The highest effect size of gender differences in COVID-related fear and anxiety were obtained from the studies conducted in Europe. However, other moderators (the average age of sample, culture, timing, and population) were not statistically significant. Although this meta-analysis has a few limitations, the findings showed that COVID-19 outbreak negatively affected females more.

The mediator role of the fear of COVID-19 in the relationship between psychological resilience and life satisfaction

COVID-19, which has recently affected the world, has caused serious adversities in many areas as well as on the mental health of individuals. People have had a serious fearful mood due to situations such as catching COVID-19, having health problems after catching the disease, and worrying about infecting someone else. This negative mood is discussed in the literature through the concept of the fear of COVID-19. Accordingly, the mediator role of the fear of COVID-19 in the relationship between psychological resilience and life satisfaction was examined in this study. This study was conducted with 430 Turkish university students, 279 women and 151 men, who are between the ages of 18 and 30. The data of the study were collected with the psychological resilience, the fear of COVID-19 and life satisfaction scales. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that psychological resilience is a negative predictor of the fear of COVID-19 and a positive predictor of life satisfaction, and that the fear of COVID-19 is a negative predictor of life satisfaction. It was also concluded that the fear of COVID-19 mediates the relationship between psychological resilience and life satisfaction. The results are discussed in relation to the relevant literature, and suggestions are made for practitioners and researchers.

Investigation of COVID-19 Fear, Well-Being and Life Satisfaction in Turkish Society

This study aims to examine the relationship between the fear of COVID-19, well-being, and life satisfaction perceptions of people aged 18 and over living in Turkey. Another aim of the study is to reveal whether the participants' COVID-19 fear, well-being, and life satisfaction perceptions change according to various socio-demographic characteristics. In the study, data was collected from 3111 people through a questionnaire created via Google Form on the internet. The data collection process was carried out on April 11-16, 2020. The results obtained from the study showed that COVID-19 fear status and life satisfaction levels of the participants were moderate while the well-being levels were low. According to the result of the regression analysis, it was determined that the fear of COVID-19 explained 11.3% of the total variance on well-being and 1.3% of the total variance on life satisfaction; and well-being explained 19.4% of the total variance on life satisfaction. Furthermore, it was determined that the scores of the participants regarding the fear of COVID-19 showed statistically significant differences according to age, gender, education level, working status, having any chronic diseases, regular drug use, and income level.