Stress overload in the spread of coronavirus

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: The incidence of novel coronavirus infection across the globe has been uneven, hitting some population subgroups harder than others. Media coverage has proffered explanations for this differential vulnerability, but psychosocial risk factors have been largely ignored. In contrast, multiple theories, medical and psychological, point to one psychosocial factor – stress – as important to the etiology of disease. They also agree that pathogenic stress arises from the particular circumstance in which adaptational demands overwhelm a person's resources, creating “stress overload” that deregulates normal functioning and increases susceptibility to illness. Assessment of stress overload is proposed as essential to understanding viral spread in the current pandemic.

Methods: Studies are reviewed explicating (1) stress overload theories and relevant empirical evidence, (2) construction of a stress overload measure and related validity evidence.

Results: Findings support the role of stress overload in illness and the accuracy of the measure in predicting illness.

Conclusion: It is concluded that assessment of stress overload may help to explain the observed coronavirus disparities, and to identify populations at risk for imminent infection. The 10-item Stress Overload Scale-Short is offered as a potentially useful tool for researchers and clinicians working to map, and stem, the proliferation of coronavirus.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• stress overload
• coronavirus etiology
• stress measure
• SOS-S

Disclosure statement

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