Psychological predictors of coronavirus-related anxiety in Iranian young adults

The sudden outbreak of Covid-19 virus in March and April 2020, sparked an emotional state of anxiety among different groups of society. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychological predictors of coronavirus anxiety in Iranian young adults.

The sample included 517 women and men who responded to four electronic questionnaires which posted on the researchers' Instagram pages between March 11th and 28th 2020. The e-questionnaires included the Corona Anxiety Inventory, the Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), Revised Health Hardiness (RHHI-24) and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP-II).

Data was analyzed by using multi regression method in SPSS -24. The results of regression analysis showed that tolerating emotional distress, health hardiness, and a lifestyle that promotes health can significantly predict the anxiety caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, it turned out that women experience more coronavirus anxiety than their male counterparts.

It can be concluded that psychological variables in stressful and ambiguous situations can determine the levels of anxiety that individuals experience. Implications for these results and limitations of the present study have been discussed.