IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i20p13430-d945711.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Examining the Relationship between Death Anxiety and Well-Being of Frontline Medical Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Na Zhao

    (Department of Psychology, School of Sociology and Psychology, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Beikun Liu

    (Department of Psychology, School of Sociology and Psychology, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Yiheng Wang

    (Department of Psychology, School of Sociology and Psychology, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract

To examine the well-being of medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a survey of 705 medical staff who were involved in anti-epidemic work in China from 20 February to 16 March 2020. The findings of the present study showed a “psychological typhoon eye” effect in which the medical staff in areas with a high contagion rate showed a significantly lower level of death anxiety than those in low-contagion regions. We also found a significant negative relationship between death anxiety and hedonic well-being, but there was no relationship between death anxiety and eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, the results revealed that a narcissistic personality moderates the relationships between death anxiety and the two types of well-being. For those who had higher narcissistic personality scores, death anxiety had no negative effect on their well-being. The findings of the present study can help us to better understand the life profiles of medical staff and can also provide some practical implications for understanding the life conditions of medical staff when facing a great health crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Na Zhao & Beikun Liu & Yiheng Wang, 2022. "Examining the Relationship between Death Anxiety and Well-Being of Frontline Medical Staff during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-13, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13430-:d:945711
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13430/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13430/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Peterson & Nansook Park & Martin Seligman, 2005. "Orientations to happiness and life satisfaction: the full life versus the empty life," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 25-41, March.
    2. Carmen Trumello & Sonia Monique Bramanti & Giulia Ballarotto & Carla Candelori & Luca Cerniglia & Silvia Cimino & Monia Crudele & Lucia Lombardi & Silvia Pignataro & Maria Luisa Viceconti & Alessandra, 2020. "Psychological Adjustment of Healthcare Workers in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Differences in Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Burnout, Secondary Trauma, and Compassion Satisfaction between Frontli," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-13, November.
    3. Veronika Huta & Alan Waterman, 2014. "Eudaimonia and Its Distinction from Hedonia: Developing a Classification and Terminology for Understanding Conceptual and Operational Definitions," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(6), pages 1425-1456, December.
    4. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    5. Shu Li & Li-Lin Rao & Xin-Wen Bai & Rui Zheng & Xiao-Peng Ren & Jin-Zhen Li & Zuo-Jun Wang & Huan Liu & Kan Zhang, 2010. "Progression of the “Psychological Typhoon Eye” and Variations Since the Wenchuan Earthquake," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(3), pages 1-6, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vincenzo Calvo & Chiara Masaro & Chiara Fusco & Camilla Pellicelli & Simona Ghedin & Cristina Marogna, 2023. "Eudaimonic Well-Being of Italian Young Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Predictive and Mediating Roles of Fear of Death and Psychological Inflexibility," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(11), pages 1-19, May.
    2. Avi Besser & Tal Morse & Virgil Zeigler-Hill, 2023. "Who Wants to (Digitally) Live Forever? The Connections That Narcissism Has with Motives for Digital Immortality and the Desire for Digital Avatars," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-17, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hezhi Chen & Zhijia Zeng, 2023. "Seeking Pleasure is Good, but Avoiding Pain is Bad: Distinguishing Hedonic Approach from Hedonic Avoidance Orientations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 2377-2393, October.
    2. Kennon M. Sheldon & Mike Corcoran & Mike Prentice, 2019. "Pursuing Eudaimonic Functioning Versus Pursuing Hedonic Well-Being: The First Goal Succeeds in Its Aim, Whereas the Second Does Not," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 919-933, March.
    3. Itumeleng P. Khumalo & Angelina Wilson-Fadiji & Symen A. Brouwers, 2020. "Well-Being Orientations and Time Perspective Across Cultural Tightness–Looseness Latent Classes in Africa," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 1681-1703, June.
    4. Sabrina Intelisano & Julia Krasko & Maike Luhmann, 2020. "Integrating Philosophical and Psychological Accounts of Happiness and Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 161-200, January.
    5. Ying Yang & Peipei Li & Xinyuan Fu & Yu Kou, 2017. "Orientations to Happiness and Subjective Well-Being in Chinese Adolescents: The Roles of Prosocial Behavior and Internet Addictive Behavior," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1747-1762, December.
    6. Maria Kryza-Lacombe & Elise Tanzini & Sarah O’Neill, 2019. "Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives: Associations with Academic Achievement and Negative Emotional States Among Urban College Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 1323-1341, June.
    7. Gaston-Breton, Charlotte & Sørensen, Elin Brandi & Thomsen, Thyra Uth, 2020. "“I want to break free!” How experiences of freedom foster consumer happiness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 22-32.
    8. Hagit Sabato & Sapir Bar-Ilan, 2023. "Pleasure or Meaning: Subjective Well-Being Orientations and the Willingness to Help Close Versus Distant Others," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 2013-2037, August.
    9. Nadine Richter & Marcel Hunecke, 2021. "The Mindful Hedonist? Relationships between Well-Being Orientations, Mindfulness and Well-Being Experiences," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 3111-3135, October.
    10. Andrea LeFebvre & Veronika Huta, 2021. "Age and Gender Differences in Eudaimonic, Hedonic, and Extrinsic Motivations," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 2299-2321, June.
    11. Kai Guo & Zhigang Wang & Lei Zhang & Chenya Li, 2023. "Self-Transcendence Values Influence Meaningful Sports Consumption Behavior: The Chain Mediator of Team Identification and Eudaimonic Motivation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-30, July.
    12. Ofer I. Atad & Pninit Russo-Netzer, 2022. "The Effect of Gratitude on Well-being: Should We Prioritize Positivity or Meaning?," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1245-1265, March.
    13. Carmen Viejo & Mercedes Gómez-López & Rosario Ortega-Ruiz, 2018. "Adolescents’ Psychological Well-Being: A Multidimensional Measure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, October.
    14. Jinseok P. Kim & Eunkook M. Suh, 2024. "Childhood Socioeconomic Status Shapes Beliefs About Hedonic Versus Eudaimonic Happiness: A Life History Approach," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 1-21, June.
    15. Lisa Wagner & Fabian Gander & René T. Proyer & Willibald Ruch, 2020. "Character Strengths and PERMA: Investigating the Relationships of Character Strengths with a Multidimensional Framework of Well-Being," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 307-328, April.
    16. Julia Krasko & Sabrina Intelisano & Maike Luhmann, 2022. "When Happiness is Both Joy and Purpose: The Complexity of the Pursuit of Happiness and Well-Being is Related to Actual Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3233-3261, October.
    17. Gaston-Breton, Charlotte & Lemoine, Jérémy E. & Voyer, Benjamin G. & Kastanakis, Minas N., 2021. "Pleasure, meaning or spirituality: Cross-cultural differences in orientations to happiness across 12 countries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 1-12.
    18. Jo-Tzu Chu & Malcolm Koo, 2023. "Life Satisfaction and Self-Esteem in Older Adults Engaging in Formal Volunteering: A Cross-Sectional Study in Taiwan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-11, March.
    19. José M. Peiró & Malgorzata W. Kozusznik & Aida Soriano, 2019. "From Happiness Orientations to Work Performance: The Mediating Role of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Experiences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-17, December.
    20. Olga Kosykh & Hanna Roh & Robert Hart, 2023. "Self-Expressiveness in Slow Tourism as a Sustainable Driver: The Trans-Siberian Railway Travel Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13430-:d:945711. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.