A Network Analysis of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S): A Large-Scale Cross-Cultural Study in Iran, Bangladesh, and Norway

Oscar Lecuona, Chung-Ying Lin, Dmitri Rozgonjuk, Tone M. Norekvål, Marjolein M. Iversen, Mohammed A. Mamun, Mark D. Griffiths, Ting-I Lin and Amir H. Pakpour
Additional contact information
Oscar Lecuona: Faculty of Health Sciences, King Juan Carlos University, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
Chung-Ying Lin: Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
Dmitri Rozgonjuk: Department of Molecular Psychology, Ulm University, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Tone M. Norekvål: Centre on Patient-Reported Outcomes, Department of Research and Development, Haukeland University Hospital, Postboks 1400, N-5021 Bergen, Norway
Marjolein M. Iversen: Centre on Patient-Reported Outcomes, Department of Research and Development, Haukeland University Hospital, Postboks 1400, N-5021 Bergen, Norway
Mohammed A. Mamun: CHINTA Research Bangladesh, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh
Mark D. Griffiths: Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK
Ting-I Lin: Department of Pediatrics, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung 82445, Taiwan
Amir H. Pakpour: Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Research Institute for Prevention of Non-Communicable, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin 3419759811, Iran

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 11, 1-17

Abstract: The rapid spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to high levels of fear worldwide. Given that fear is an important factor in causing psychological distress and facilitating preventive behaviors, assessing the fear of COVID-19 is important. The seven-item Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) is a widely used psychometric instrument to assess this fear. However, the factor structure of the FCV-19S remains unclear according to the current evidence. Therefore, the present study used a network analysis to provide further empirical evidence for the factor structure of FCV-19S. A total of 24,429 participants from Iran ( n = 10,843), Bangladesh ( n = 9906), and Norway ( n = 3680) completed the FCV-19S in their local language. A network analysis (via regularized partial correlation networks) was applied to investigate the seven FCV-19S items. Moreover, relationships between the FCV-19S items were compared across gender (males vs. females), age groups (18–30 years, 31–50 years, and >50 years), and countries (Iran, Bangladesh, and Norway). A two-factor structure pattern was observed (three items concerning physical factors, including clammy hands, insomnia, and heart palpitations; four items concerning psychosocial factors, including being afraid, uncomfortable, afraid of dying, and anxious about COVID-19 news). Moreover, this pattern was found to be the same among men and women, across age groups and countries. The network analysis used in the present study verified the two-factor structure for the FCV-19S. Future studies may consider using the two-factor structure of FCV-19S to assess the fear of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 era.

Keywords: Bangladesh; COVID-19; fear; Iran; network analysis; Norway (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6824/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6824/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:11:p:6824-:d:830780

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().