Tracing "Fearbola": Psychological Predictors of Anxious Responding to the Threat of Ebola
Tracing "Fearbola": Psychological Predictors of Anxious Responding to the Threat of Ebola
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DOI：
10.1007/s10608-015-9701-9
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发表时间：
2015-12-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Abramowitz, Jonathan S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Blakey, Shannon M.;Reuman, Lillian;Abramowitz, Jonathan S.
埃博拉等严重疾病经常在大众媒体上得到高度宣传，并可能与不同程度的焦虑和补偿性安全行为(例如，避免航空旅行)有关。本研究调查了2014年底埃博拉疫情爆发期间与埃博拉相关焦虑和安全行为相关的心理过程。在2014年10月30日至12月3日期间，107名大学生完成了一系列测试，评估对埃博拉病毒的恐惧、安全行为的表现、对病毒的实际了解，以及假设用于预测埃博拉相关恐惧的心理变量。2014年10月30日至12月3日期间，人们对埃博拉疫情的担忧和媒体的关注达到顶峰。我们发现，虽然我们的样本通常不太害怕感染埃博拉病毒，但对这种疾病的恐惧与普遍的痛苦、污染认知、厌恶敏感、身体警惕和与焦虑敏感相关的身体担忧相关。回归分析进一步表明，与身体担忧相关的焦虑敏感度和高估污染严重程度的倾向是埃博拉恐惧和相关安全行为的唯一预测因素。讨论了对严重疾病暴发的担忧如何概念化和临床管理的含义。
Serious illnesses such as Ebola are often highly publicized in the mass media and can be associated with varying levels of anxiety and compensatory safety behavior (e.g., avoidance of air travel). The present study investigated psychological processes associated with Ebola-related anxiety and safety behaviors during the outbreak in late 2014. Between October 30 and December 3, 2014, which encompassed the peak of concerns and of the media's attention to this particular outbreak, 107 university students completed a battery of measures assessing fear of Ebola, performance of safety behaviors, factual knowledge of the virus, and psychological variables hypothesized to predict Ebola-related fear. We found that while our sample was generally not very fearful of contracting Ebola, the fear of this disease was correlated with general distress, contamination cognitions, disgust sensitivity, body vigilance, and anxiety sensitivity-related physical concerns. Regression analyses further indicated that anxiety sensitivity related to physical concerns and the tendency to overestimate the severity of contamination were unique predictors of both Ebola fear and associated safety behaviors. Implications for how concerns over serious illness outbreaks can be conceptualized and clinically managed are discussed.