“Overrated Anxiety”——Impact of Corona Virus Disease 2019 Epidemic on Anxiety Levels of Chinese Population

¹ School of Humanities, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China
² School of Public Administration, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China

^* Corresponding author: 852090954@qq.com

Abstract

Although researches played an important role in the psychological impact of public health emergencies on medical staff and patients’ physical and mental health, few previous studies have directly investigated the psychological influence on the Chinese public of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study investigated 1503 participants from 29 provinces in China and drew the following conclusions: most (89.4%) participants were normal, the anxiety levels of women were significantly higher than that of men (p-value: < 0.01), people aged 18-25 had the highest levels of anxiety of any age group (p-value: < 0.001), people who had no contact with heavy epidemic area (Hubei Province in China) were found to have higher anxiety levels than people who contacted with heavy epidemic area (p-value: < 0.01). Female, higher educational level and no contact with heavy epidemic area were key risk factors which can predict higher anxiety levels. This study also verified the “psychological typhoon eye effect” and that the quarantine policy was reasonable. These empirical findings in this study could contribute to a better understanding of anxiety impact on the general population and provide empirical support for the mental health intervention work in the epidemic.