Social contact with COVID-19 as a factor influencing corona anxiety in India

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is probably the worst in history, in terms of its impact on mental health. In this context, a number of possible moderators of mental health have been studied, but research on whether direct social contact with COVID-19 influences what has been referred to as &ldquo;corona anxiety&rdquo; is largely absent, especially in developing countries. This study attempted to examine the impact of demographics, risk perception, and social contact with COVID-19 on the levels of corona anxiety in India, based on a sample of 776 participants from both the general public (n = 550) and hospital nursing staff (n = 226), comprising 373 male (48.1%) and 403 female (51.9%) participants. Overall, nurses were found to exhibit higher level of corona anxiety than the general public. High-risk perception (&beta; = 0.268, p < 0.001) was found to be positively associated with corona anxiety. Female participants (&beta; = 0.31, p < 0.001) were found to exhibit higher level of corona anxiety compared to their male counterparts. Regression analyses indicated that social contact with COVID-19 significantly aggravated corona anxiety across the study sample. Older people showed higher level of corona anxiety compared to younger people. For men, the impact of social contact with COVID-19 on corona anxiety was mostly prevalent among the individuals in the oldest age group (41 years or older), whereas for women, the escalating impact of social contact with COVID-19 on corona anxiety was discernible throughout all age groups.