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What Psychological Factors Make Individuals Believe They Are Infected by Coronavirus 2019?
Hojjat Daniali1, Magne Arve Flaten1
1Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Frontiers in Psychology
|May 10, 2021
Summary
Believing you have coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is linked to personality traits like conscientiousness and health anxiety. These psychological factors can influence symptom perception and reporting during the pandemic.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Public Health
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Previous research indicated that the belief of being infected with COVID-19 acted as a nocebo, increasing symptom perception.
- The psychological mechanisms underlying the certainty of being infected with COVID-19 were not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between certainty of being infected with COVID-19 and psychological factors.
- To examine the relationship with age, sex, health anxiety, and personality traits (five-factor model).
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from an online survey of 375 respondents.
- Survey included questions on COVID-19-like symptoms, certainty of infection, anxiety, stress, health anxiety, and personality dimensions.
Main Results:
- Higher levels of conscientiousness were independently associated with certainty of being infected with COVID-19.
- Elevated health anxiety was also independently associated with the certainty of being infected with COVID-19.
- The combined psychological factors predicted 29% of the variance in the certainty of being infected.
Conclusions:
- Conscientiousness and health anxiety are linked to the belief of being infected with COVID-19.
- Findings suggest these traits may lead to over-reporting of COVID-19-like symptoms.
- Implications for healthcare providers offering testing and consulting services, and understanding nocebo/placebo effects.
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