@article{ref1,
title="Anxiety and safety behavior usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: the prospective role of contamination fear",
journal="Journal of anxiety disorders",
year="2020",
author="Knowles, Kelly A. and Olatunji, Bunmi O.",
volume="77",
number="",
pages="e102323-e102323",
abstract="The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has broadly increased anxiety and changed individual behavior. However, there is limited research examining predictors of pandemic-related changes, and the majority of existing research is cross-sectional in nature, which limits causal inference. Given functional links with disease avoidance processes, individual differences in contamination fear may be especially relevant in predicting responses to COVID-19.   Accordingly, the present study prospectively examines contamination fear and obsessive-compulsive washing symptoms as predictors of anxiety and safety behaviors in response to COVID-19 in a student sample (N = 108). To examine specificity, anxiety and safety behaviors in response to seasonal influenza are also examined. In the early stages of the pandemic (March 2020), coronavirus-related anxiety was higher than flu-related anxiety (d = 1.38). Obsessive-compulsive washing symptoms also increased from before the pandemic (d = 0.4). Although baseline contamination fear and obsessive-compulsive washing symptoms did not significantly predict coronavirus-related anxiety, contamination fear did significantly predict safety behavior usage in response to both COVID-19 and influenza.   The specificity of the prospective association between contamination fear and the use of safety behaviors are discussed in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the broader literature on the role of safety behaviors in anxiety.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0887-6185",
doi="10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102323",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102323"
}