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Longitudinal assessment of COVID-19 fear and psychological wellbeing in the United Kingdom

Martyn Quigley Orcid Logo, Sebastian Whiteford Orcid Logo, Gemma Cuddihy, Daniel Zuj, Simon Dymond Orcid Logo

Journal of Health Psychology, Volume: 28, Issue: 8, Pages: 726 - 738

Swansea University Authors: Martyn Quigley Orcid Logo, Sebastian Whiteford Orcid Logo, Gemma Cuddihy, Daniel Zuj, Simon Dymond Orcid Logo

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact global psychological wellbeing. To investigate the sustained impact of COVID-19 on wellbeing, the current study longitudinally assessed fear of COVID-19, anxiety, depression, intolerance of uncertainty, worry, sleep quality, loneliness and alcohol use during...

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Published in: Journal of Health Psychology
ISSN: 1359-1053 1461-7277
Published: SAGE Publications 2023
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61671
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact global psychological wellbeing. To investigate the sustained impact of COVID-19 on wellbeing, the current study longitudinally assessed fear of COVID-19, anxiety, depression, intolerance of uncertainty, worry, sleep quality, loneliness and alcohol use during the pandemic in the United Kingdom. Timepoint 1 (T1; N = 445) took place in February 2021 following the highest number of pandemic-related deaths in the UK. Timepoint 2 (T2, N = 198) took place in June 2021 when pandemic-related deaths had declined considerably, and many had been vaccinated. At T1, COVID-19 fear predicted elevated levels of anxiety, depression, intolerance of uncertainty, worry, sleep quality and loneliness. At T2, we observed that levels of COVID-19 fear, depression, loneliness and sleep quality decreased. However, COVID-19 fear continued to predict elevated intolerance of uncertainty, worry and impaired sleep quality. These findings demonstrate the longitudinal impact of COVID-19 fear on psychological wellbeing.
Keywords: COVID-19; longitudinal; pandemic; United Kingdom; wellbeing
College: Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
Funders: This work was supported by the Welsh Government Office for Science (Ser Cymru Tackling COVID-19) grant (WG Project Number 95).
Issue: 8
Start Page: 726
End Page: 738