Psychological Predictors of COVID-19-Related Anxiety in Vulnerable Groups

Abstract

This study responds to the need to explore psychological predictors of COVID-19-related anxiety in vulnerable groups. An anonymous voluntary online survey was conducted (n = 520) with (a) working parents with young children (0–12 y.o.), (b) people with chronic physical conditions, (c) people with multiple vulnerability characteristics and (d) a control group (no self-reported vulnerability) in 2022. Findings showed that perceived stress of the parents and trait anxiety of the chronic sufferers were single weak positive predictors of COVID-19 anxiety. However, both psychological factors had a stronger effect on the pandemic-related anxiety for the group with multiple vulnerabilities. In the control group, trait resilience and optimistic expectations (combined with perceived stress) were moderate negative predictors of COVID-19 anxiety. The findings emphasize the importance of perceptions, expectations, trait anxiety as well as the need for intersectional research of vulnerability from multiple perspectives. Furthermore, they highlight the necessity of group-specific policies and interventions aimed both at handling the negative psychological tendencies of the vulnerable groups and at strengthening the positive tendencies of non-vulnerable groups, rather than tackling only emergent anxiety conditions in crisis times.