The role of pathogen disgust and punishment sensitivity in COVID-19 related anxiety

Abstract

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati povezanost gađenja na patogene i osjetljivosti na kaznu sa zabrinutosti zbog pandemije COVIDa-19 te njihove doprinose i međuodnos u predviđanju zabrinutosti zbog pandemije. Zabrinutost zbog COVIDa-19 odnosi se na zdravstvene brige oko moguće zaraze (vlastite i drugih) bolešću, ozbiljnosti kliničke slike te opasnosti virusa; osjetljivost na kaznu odnosi se na osjetljivost bihevioralnog inhibicijskog sustava (anksioznost) odnosno sustava borbe, bijega i zamrzavanja (strah), dok gađenje na patogene kao mehanizam sprječavanja unosa štetnih tvari u organizam predstavlja indikator bihevioralnog imunosnog sustava. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 560 sudionika (80.4% žena). Za mjerenje zabrinutosti zbog COVIDa-19 korištena je Ljestvica anksioznosti zbog COVIDa-19 (CAS-5), kao mjera gađenja na patogene korištena je podljestvica gađenja na patogene iz Ljestvice triju domena gađenja (TDDS), a kao mjere osjetljivosti BIS-a (anksioznost) odnosno FFFS-a (strah) korištene su podljestvice anksioznost i strah iz Upitnika motivacije izbjegavanja i približavanja (QAAM). Dobivena je statistički značajna pozitivna povezanost BIS-a (anksioznosti) i gađenja na patogene sa zabrinutosti zbog COVIDa-19, dok povezanost FFFS-a (straha) i zabrinutosti zbog COVIDa-19 nije pronađena. Multivarijatna regresija pokazala je kako BIS (anksioznost) ima značajan samostalan doprinos u objašnjavanju varijance zabrinutosti zbog COVIDa-19, dok FFFS (strah) i gađenje nemaju.The aim of this study was to examine whether pathogen disgust and punishment sensitivity are associated with COVID-19-related anxiety, as well as their contributions and relationships in predicting COVID-19-related anxiety. Latter refers to health concerns about possible infection (one's own or others) with the disease, the severity of symptoms and the danger of the virus; punishment sensitivity refers to the sensitivity of the behavioural inhibition system (anxiety) and fight-flight-freeze system (fear); pathogen disgust, as a contamination preventing mechanism, is an indicator of the behavioural immune system. 560 participants (80.4% women) took part in this study. To measure COVID-19 related anxiety, the COVID-19 Anxiety Scale (CAS-5) was used; as a measure of pathogen disgust, the pathogen disgust subscale from the Three Domains of Disgust Scale (TDDS) was used; to measure BIS sensitivity (anxiety) and FFFS sensitivity (fear), anxiety and fear subscales from the Questionnaire of ApproachAvoidance Motivation (QAAM) were used. BIS (anxiety) and pathogen disgust positively correlated with COVID-19 related anxiety. There was no correlation between FFFS (fear) and COVID-19 related anxiety. Multivariate regression analysis showed that BIS (anxiety) has a significant independent contribution in explaining the variance of COVID-19 related anxiety, while FFFS (fear) and pathogen disgust do not