Factors Associated With Highest Symptoms of Anxiety During COVID-19: Cross-Cultural Study of 23 Countries

Valentina N Burkova^{1

2}, Marina L Butovskaya^{1

2}, Ashley K Randall³, Julija N Fedenok¹, Khodabakhsh Ahmadi⁴, Ahmad M Alghraibeh⁵, Fathil Bakir Mutsher Allami⁶, Fadime Suata Alpaslan⁷, Mohammad Ahmad Abdelaziz Al-Zu'bi⁸, Kholoud Imhammad Meqbel Al-Mseidin⁹, Derya Fatma Biçer¹⁰, Hakan Cetinkaya¹¹, Oana Alexandra David¹², Silvia Donato¹³, Seda Dural¹⁴, Paige Erickson¹⁵, Alexey M Ermakov¹⁶, Berna Ertuğrul⁷, Emmanuel Abiodun Fayankinnu¹⁷, Maryanne L Fisher¹⁸, Fakir Al Gharaibeh¹⁹, Lauren Hocker³, Ivana Hromatko²⁰, Elena Kasparova²¹, Alexander Kavina²², Yahya M Khatatbeh²³, Hareesol Khun-Inkeeree²⁴, Kai M Kline³, Fırat Koç²⁵, Vladimir Kolodkin²⁶, Melanie MacEacheron²⁷, Irma Rachmawati Maruf²⁸, Norbert Meskó²⁹, Ruzan Mkrtchyan³⁰, Poppy Setiawati Nurisnaeny³¹, Oluyinka Ojedokun³², Damilola Adebayo³², Mohd S B Omar-Fauzee³³, Barıs Özener⁷, Edna Lúcia Tinoco Ponciano^{34

35}, Muhammad Rizwan³⁶, Agnieszka Sabiniewicz³⁷, Victoriya I Spodina³⁸, Stanislava Stoyanova³⁹, Nachiketa Tripathi⁴⁰, Satwik Upadhyay⁴⁰, Carol Weisfeld¹⁵, Mohd Faiz Mohd Yaakob³³, Mat Rahimi Yusof³³, Raushaniia I Zinurova⁴¹

Affiliations

¹ Center of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
² International Centre of Anthropology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
³ Counseling and Counseling Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.
⁴ Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Department of Psychology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Misan, Amarah, Iraq.
⁷ Department of Anthropology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
⁸ Department of Early Childhood, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Zarqa University, Zarqa, Jordan.
⁹ Department of Educational and Psychological Counselling, Irbid National University, Irbid, Jordan.
¹⁰ Department of Business Administration, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Yaşar University, İzmir, Turkey.
¹² Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
¹³ Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, İzmir University of Economics, İzmir, Turkey.
¹⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI, United States.
¹⁶ Faculty of Bioengineering and Veterinary Medicine, Don State Technical University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
¹⁷ Department of Sociology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Nigeria.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax Regional Municipality, NS, Canada.
¹⁹ Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of Sociology, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
²⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
²¹ Department of Pedagogy and Problems of Education Development, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus.
²² Department of History, St John's University of Tanzania, Dodoma, Tanzania.
²³ Department of Psychology, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
²⁴ Faculty of Education, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand.
²⁵ Department of Anthropology, Hitit University, Çorum, Turkey.
²⁶ Faculty of Media Communications and Multimedia Technologies, Don State Technical University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
²⁷ School of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.
²⁸ Pasundan University, Bandung, Indonesia.
²⁹ Department for General and Evolutionary Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
³⁰ Department of Cultural Studies, Faculty of History, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia.
³¹ State Intelligence College, Bogor, Indonesia.
³² Department of Pure & Applied Psychology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Nigeria.
³³ School of Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia.
³⁴ Institute of Psychology, University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
³⁵ Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
³⁶ Department of Psychology, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan.
³⁷ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Smell and Taste Clinic, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
³⁸ Department of History and Ethnology, Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Researches and Development, Pasundan University, Bandung, Indonesia.
³⁹ Department of Psychology, South-West University "Neofit Rilski", Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.
⁴⁰ Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India.
⁴¹ Institute of Innovation Management, Kazan National Research Technological University, Kazan, Russia.

PMID: 35664191
PMCID: PMC9162123
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805586

Factors Associated With Highest Symptoms of Anxiety During COVID-19: Cross-Cultural Study of 23 Countries

Valentina N Burkova et al. Front Psychol. 2022.

. 2022 May 19:13:805586.

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805586. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Human Ethology, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
² International Centre of Anthropology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
³ Counseling and Counseling Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.
⁴ Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Department of Psychology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Misan, Amarah, Iraq.
⁷ Department of Anthropology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey.
⁸ Department of Early Childhood, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Zarqa University, Zarqa, Jordan.
⁹ Department of Educational and Psychological Counselling, Irbid National University, Irbid, Jordan.
¹⁰ Department of Business Administration, Sivas Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey.
¹¹ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Yaşar University, İzmir, Turkey.
¹² Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
¹³ Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
¹⁴ Department of Psychology, İzmir University of Economics, İzmir, Turkey.
¹⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit, MI, United States.
¹⁶ Faculty of Bioengineering and Veterinary Medicine, Don State Technical University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
¹⁷ Department of Sociology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Nigeria.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, Saint Mary's University, Halifax Regional Municipality, NS, Canada.
¹⁹ Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of Sociology, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
²⁰ Department of Psychology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
²¹ Department of Pedagogy and Problems of Education Development, Belarusian State University, Minsk, Belarus.
²² Department of History, St John's University of Tanzania, Dodoma, Tanzania.
²³ Department of Psychology, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
²⁴ Faculty of Education, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand.
²⁵ Department of Anthropology, Hitit University, Çorum, Turkey.
²⁶ Faculty of Media Communications and Multimedia Technologies, Don State Technical University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
²⁷ School of Social & Behavioral Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States.
²⁸ Pasundan University, Bandung, Indonesia.
²⁹ Department for General and Evolutionary Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary.
³⁰ Department of Cultural Studies, Faculty of History, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia.
³¹ State Intelligence College, Bogor, Indonesia.
³² Department of Pure & Applied Psychology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Nigeria.
³³ School of Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia.
³⁴ Institute of Psychology, University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
³⁵ Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
³⁶ Department of Psychology, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan.
³⁷ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Smell and Taste Clinic, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
³⁸ Department of History and Ethnology, Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Researches and Development, Pasundan University, Bandung, Indonesia.
³⁹ Department of Psychology, South-West University "Neofit Rilski", Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.
⁴⁰ Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India.
⁴¹ Institute of Innovation Management, Kazan National Research Technological University, Kazan, Russia.

PMID: 35664191
PMCID: PMC9162123
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805586

Abstract

The COVID-19 restrictions have impacted people's lifestyles in all spheres (social, psychological, political, economic, and others). This study explored which factors affected the level of anxiety during the time of the first wave of COVID-19 and subsequent quarantine in a substantial proportion of 23 countries, included in this study. The data was collected from May to August 2020 (5 June 2020). The sample included 15,375 participants from 23 countries: (seven from Europe: Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Russia; 11 from West, South and Southeast Asia: Armenia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey; two African: Nigeria and Tanzania; and three from North, South, and Central America: Brazil, Canada, United States). Level of anxiety was measured by means of the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and the 20-item first part of The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)-State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). Respondents were also asked about their personal experiences with COVID-19, attitudes toward measures introduced by governments, changes in attitudes toward migrants during a pandemic, family income, isolation conditions, etc. The factor analysis revealed that four factors explained 45.08% of variance in increase of anxiety, and these components were interpreted as follows: (1) personal awareness of the threat of COVID-19, (2) personal reaction toward officially undertaken measures and attitudes to foreigners, (3) personal trust in official sources, (4) personal experience with COVID-19. Three out of four factors demonstrated strong associations with both scales of anxiety: high level of anxiety was significantly correlated with high level of personal awareness of the threat of COVID-19, low level of personal reaction toward officially undertaken measures and attitudes to foreigners, and high level of presence of personal experience with COVID-19. Our study revealed significant main effects of sex, country, and all four factors on the level of anxiety. It was demonstrated that countries with higher levels of anxiety assessed the real danger of a pandemic as higher, and had more personal experience with COVID-19. Respondents who trusted the government demonstrated lower levels of anxiety. Finally, foreigners were perceived as the cause of epidemic spread.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; cross-cultural; personal awareness; personal experience; personal trust in official sources.

Copyright © 2022 Burkova, Butovskaya, Randall, Fedenok, Ahmadi, Alghraibeh, Allami, Alpaslan, Al-Zu’bi, Al-Mseidin, Biçer, Cetinkaya, David, Donato, Dural, Erickson, Ermakov, Ertuğrul, Fayankinnu, Fisher, Al Gharaibeh, Hocker, Hromatko, Kasparova, Kavina, Khatatbeh, Khun-Inkeeree, Kline, Koç, Kolodkin, MacEacheron, Maruf, Meskó, Mkrtchyan, Nurisnaeny, Ojedokun, Adebayo, Omar-Fauzee, Özener, Ponciano, Rizwan, Sabiniewicz, Spodina, Stoyanova, Tripathi, Upadhyay, Weisfeld, Yaakob, Yusof and Zinurova.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

**FIGURE 1**
Country differences in levels of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7).

**FIGURE 2**
Country differences in levels of State Anxiety Inventory (SAI).

**FIGURE 3**
Country differences of levels of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7).

**FIGURE 4**
Country differences of levels of State Anxiety Inventory (SAI).

**FIGURE 5**
Total confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 23 countries (WHO data).

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Abuhammad S., Alzoubi K. H., Khabour O. (2021). Fear of COVID-19 and stigmatization towards infected people among Jordanian people. Int. J. Clin. Pract. 75:e13899. 10.1111/ijcp.13899 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Al-Rabiaah A., Temsah M. H., Al-Eyadhy A. A., Hasan G. M., Al-Zamil F., Al-Subaie S., et al. (2020). Middle east respiratory syndrome-corona virus (MERS-CoV) associated stress among medical students at a university teaching hospital in Saudi Arabia. J. Infect. Public Health 13 687–691. 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.01.005 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Bahammam Maha A. (2016). Validity and reliability of an Arabic version of the state-trait anxiety inventory in a Saudi dental setting. Saudi Med. J. 37 668–674. 10.15537/Smj.2016.6.13935 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Berta A., Ángel C. M., Clara G. S., Manuel M. (2020). The psychological impact of six weeks of lockdown as a consequence of COVID-19 and the importance of social support: a cross-cultural study comparing Spanish and Russian populations. Psychol. Russ. State Art 13 89–105. 10.11621/pir.2020.0406 - DOI
1. Best L. A., Law M. A., Roach S., Wilbiks J. M. (2021). The psychological impact of COVID-19 in Canada: effects of social isolation during the initial response. Can. Psychol. Psychol. Can. 62:143. 10.1037/cap0000254 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Factors Associated With Highest Symptoms of Anxiety During COVID-19: Cross-Cultural Study of 23 Countries

Affiliations

Factors Associated With Highest Symptoms of Anxiety During COVID-19: Cross-Cultural Study of 23 Countries

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources