Open AccessCoping strategies associated to widespread fear and post-traumatic stress criteria in a Mexican sample during COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study
Author(s) -
Sarah Margarita Chávez-Valdez,
Alejandro Domínguez-Rodríguez,
Óscar Armando Esparza Del Villar,
Marı́a Jesús Hernández Jiménez,
Anabel de la RosaGómez,
Paulina Arenas-Landgrave,
Sofía Cristina Martínez-Luna,
Flor Rocío Ramírez-Martínez,
Jasshel Teresa Salinas-Saldívar
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
salud mental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.163
H-Index - 24
ISSN - 0185-3325
DOI - 10.17711/sm.0185-3325.2021.021
Subject(s) - anxiety , psychology , coping (psychology) , clinical psychology , population , mood , negative affectivity , avoidance coping , psychosocial , cognition , psychiatry , medicine , environmental health
. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the population generating widespread fear due to people’s perception that both their health and safety are at risk. Widespread fear, a synonym for social anxiety, is associated with affective intrusive cognitions. Likewise, it is related to symptoms of post-traumatic stress, physiological intrusive and eluding coping responses, and could be associated with long-term vulnerability to develop PTSD. Objective. To assess the association between coping strategies, widespread fear to COVID-19, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in Mexican population exposed to the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Method. A cross sectional, empirical, descriptive study through survey research was performed; 370 participants were sampled by nationality quotas, and they completed digital self-informed instruments on an on-line psychosocial intervention. Sample size was estimated using a power analysis. Results. Findings showed reliable indicators between physiological coping and PTSD symptoms. There was a 42% variance related to PTSD delayed intrusive cognitive responses, a 40% variance was related to PTSD negative alterations in cognitions and mood, a 31% variance was explained by hyperarousal responses, and a 29% of the variance represented PTSD avoidance symptoms. Widespread fear of COVID-19 was explained by affective behavioral coping strategies linked also to PTSD symptoms. Discussion and conclusion. Research found consistency between findings and theories on emotion-centered strategies, which in turn were are related to affective coping around widespread fear to COVID-19 and avoidance intrusive symptoms, physiological coping with avoidance, considering future community post-traumatic stress traits and anxiety disorders in Mexican communities exposed to the pandemic, linking strategies with community trauma.