A longitudinal examination of the association between fear of COVID-19, resilience, and mental health during COVID-19 outbreak

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of fear of COVID-19 on depression and anxiety in longitudinal data and whether this relationship can be mediated by resilience. The sample of the study comprised of 144 university students (77% female and 23% male) between 18 and 39 years of age (M = 22.74 ± 2.93) and participants completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) at Time 1 and Time 2. Mediation analyses demonstrated that resilience (T2) was a significant mediator between fear of COVID-19 (T1) and depression and anxiety (T2). The findings of the study highlight the potential key role of resilience as a protective factor against the negative effects of pandemic challenges on individuals’ mental health.

KEYWORDS:

• Fear of COVID-19
• resilience
• anxiety
• depression
• longitudinal mediation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declaration

The corresponding author declares no conflict of interest and ethical approval was obtained by Bursa Uludag University Ethics Committee.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.