IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i3p2245-d1047828.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Shades of Fear—Mental and Physical Health Reactions to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Representative Study of Polish Society

Author

Listed:
  • Tomasz Sobierajski

    (Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Resocialization, Warsaw University, 26/28 Krakowskie Przedmieście Str., 00-927 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Marek Krzystanek

    (Clinic of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, 45/47 Ziołowa Str., 40-635 Katowice, Poland)

Abstract

The study was carried out one year after the establishment of the pandemic state in the European Union (EU), the situation at the end of the next wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. The survey was conducted on a representative sample of Polish people using Computer Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI), considering several demographic categories, such as sex, age, place of residence, education, and monthly income. The survey’s main objective was to find out whether the respondents feel fear related to pandemics and living in a pandemic, and if so, what the psychological and physiological symptoms of this fear are. Half of the respondents (50.2%) declared that they felt fear about what their life would look like after the pandemic, and every tenth person (10.1%) marked the highest level of fear on the scale. The respondents felt the psychological symptoms of the pandemic much more often than they felt the physical ones. The most common psychological symptoms were fear of the future (38.5% of them gave “often” and “very often” responses, together), despondency (29.2% of them gave “often” and “very often” responses), and mental tension (28.9% of them gave “often” and “very often” responses). A detailed analysis of data from representative studies showed that the responses in a pandemic are strongly determined by demographic categories, mainly sex and age, and they differ depending on the social group to which a person belongs.

Suggested Citation

  • Tomasz Sobierajski & Marek Krzystanek, 2023. "Shades of Fear—Mental and Physical Health Reactions to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Representative Study of Polish Society," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-24, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2245-:d:1047828
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2245/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/3/2245/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucía del Río-Casanova & Milagrosa Sánchez-Martín & Ana García-Dantas & Anabel González-Vázquez & Ania Justo, 2021. "Psychological Responses According to Gender during the Early Stage of COVID-19 in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-20, April.
    2. Cuiyan Wang & Riyu Pan & Xiaoyang Wan & Yilin Tan & Linkang Xu & Cyrus S. Ho & Roger C. Ho, 2020. "Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-25, March.
    3. Isidora Vujčić & Teodora Safiye & Bojana Milikić & Emina Popović & Draško Dubljanin & Eleonora Dubljanin & Jakša Dubljanin & Milanko Čabarkapa, 2021. "Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Epidemic and Mental Health Status in the General Adult Population of Serbia: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-15, February.
    4. Sara Esteban-Gonzalo & María Caballero-Galilea & Juan Luis González-Pascual & Miguel Álvaro-Navidad & Laura Esteban-Gonzalo, 2021. "Anxiety and Worries among Pregnant Women during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multilevel Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Takanao Tanaka & Shohei Okamoto, 2021. "Increase in suicide following an initial decline during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 229-238, February.
    6. Julio Torales & Marcelo O’Higgins & João Mauricio Castaldelli-Maia & Antonio Ventriglio, 2020. "The outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus and its impact on global mental health," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(4), pages 317-320, June.
    7. Sonia Mukhtar, 2020. "Psychological health during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic outbreak," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(5), pages 512-516, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ankica Kosic & Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović & Nebojša Petrović, 2021. "A Cross-Cultural Study of Distress during COVID-19 Pandemic: Some Protective and Risk Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Alessandro Germani & Livia Buratta & Elisa Delvecchio & Claudia Mazzeschi, 2020. "Emerging Adults and COVID-19: The Role of Individualism-Collectivism on Perceived Risks and Psychological Maladjustment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-15, May.
    3. Edmond Pui Hang Choi & Bryant Pui Hung Hui & Eric Yuk Fai Wan & Jojo Yan Yan Kwok & Tiffany Hei Lam Tam & Chanchan Wu, 2021. "COVID-19 and Health-Related Quality of Life: A Community-Based Online Survey in Hong Kong," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-12, March.
    4. Dana Alonzo & Marciana Popescu, 2022. "A qualitative examination of the mental health impact of Covid-19 in marginalized communities in Guatemala: The Covid Care Calls survey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 68(7), pages 1435-1444, November.
    5. Martin Sanchez-Gomez & Gabriele Giorgi & Georgia Libera Finstad & Flavio Urbini & Giulia Foti & Nicola Mucci & Salvatore Zaffina & José M. León-Perez, 2021. "COVID-19 Pandemic as a Traumatic Event and Its Associations with Fear and Mental Health: A Cognitive-Activation Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-14, July.
    6. Daniela Morniroli & Alessandra Consales & Lorenzo Colombo & Elena Nicoletta Bezze & Lidia Zanotta & Laura Plevani & Monica Fumagalli & Fabio Mosca & Maria Lorella Giannì, 2021. "Exploring the Impact of Restricted Partners’ Visiting Policies on Non-Infected Mothers’ Mental Health and Breastfeeding Rates during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-11, June.
    7. Ewa Kupcewicz & Marzena Mikla & Helena Kadučáková & Elżbieta Grochans & Maria Dolores Roldán Valcarcel & Anna Maria Cybulska, 2022. "Correlation between Positive Orientation and Control of Anger, Anxiety and Depression in Nursing Students in Poland, Spain and Slovakia during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-18, February.
    8. M. Dolores Merino & Coral Oliver-Hernández & M. Dolores Vallellano & Inmaculada Mateo, 2020. "Is It Possible to Find Something Positive in Being Confined Due to COVID-19? Implications for Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Irene (Eirini) Kamenidou & Aikaterini Stavrianea & Spyridon Mamalis & Ifigeneia Mylona, 2020. "Knowledge Assessment of COVID-19 Symptoms: Gender Differences and Communication Routes for the Generation Z Cohort," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-16, September.
    10. Ilaria Cataldo & Dora Novotny & Alessandro Carollo & Gianluca Esposito, 2023. "Mental Health in the Post-Lockdown Scenario: A Scientometric Investigation of the Main Thematic Trends of Research," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-21, July.
    11. Ying Yang & Yanan Xiao & Yulu Liu & Qiong Li & Changshuo Shan & Shulin Chang & Philip H.-S. Jen, 2021. "Mental Health and Psychological Impact on Students with or without Hearing Loss during the Recurrence of the COVID-19 Pandemic in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-28, February.
    12. Zhenhong Yang & Xiaoying Zhao & Lin Zhu & Yishi Xia & Yixin Ma & Jingyan Wu & Xueqian Xiong & Ni Yang & Miao Lu, 2023. "Research on the Healing Potential of Urban Parks from the Perspective of Audio-Visual Integration: A Case Study of Five Urban Parks in Chengdu," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-25, June.
    13. Juana Inés Gallego-Gómez & María Campillo-Cano & Aurora Carrión-Martínez & Serafín Balanza & María Teresa Rodríguez-González-Moro & Agustín Javier Simonelli-Muñoz & José Miguel Rivera-Caravaca, 2020. "The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Homebound Nursing Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-12, October.
    14. Hana Sonbol & Hadil M. Alahdal & Rasis A. Alanazi & Khawla Alsamhary & Fuad Ameen, 2021. "COVID-19 Pandemic Causing Depression in Different Sociodemographic Groups in Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-11, June.
    15. Samantha Garcia & Suellen Hopfer & Elouise Botes & Samuel Greiff, 2022. "Associations between Coronavirus Crisis Perception, Perceived Economic Risk of Coronavirus, General Self-Efficacy, and Coronavirus Anxiety at the Start of the Pandemic: Differences by Gender and Race," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-15, March.
    16. Maja Milošević Marković & Milan B. Latas & Srđan Milovanović & Sanja Totić Poznanović & Miloš M. Lazarević & Milica Jakšić Karišik & Jana Đorđević & Zoran Mandinić & Svetlana Jovanović, 2022. "Mental Health and Quality of Life among Dental Students during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-12, October.
    17. Nai-Ying Ko & Wei-Hsin Lu & Yi-Lung Chen & Dian-Jeng Li & Yu-Ping Chang & Chia-Fen Wu & Peng-Wei Wang & Cheng-Fang Yen, 2020. "Changes in Sex Life among People in Taiwan during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Roles of Risk Perception, General Anxiety, and Demographic Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-15, August.
    18. Md Altab Hossin & Lie Chen & Md Sajjad Hosain & Isaac Owusu Asante, 2022. "Does COVID-19 Fear Induce Employee Innovation Performance Deficiency? Examining the Mediating Role of Psychological Stress and Moderating Role of Organizational Career Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-22, August.
    19. Kanu Priya Mohan & Narisara Peungposop & Pranav Kalra, 2023. "Psychosocial Influences on Coping and Wellbeing during the Covid-19 Lockdown in the Early Days of the Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Research," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 163-193, February.
    20. Eamin Z. Heanoy & Ezra H. Nadler & Dominic Lorrain & Norman R. Brown, 2021. "Exploring People’s Reaction and Perceived Issues of the COVID-19 Pandemic at Its Onset," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-15, October.

    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:20:y:2023:i:3:p:2245-:d:1047828. 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.