COVID-19 related stress and fears of contamination: the impact of feared self-perceptions.

Specific concerns have been raised for those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those suffering from contamination fear. Investigation in non-clinical and OCD samples have reported an increase in contamination symptoms in association with the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, stress related to COVID-19 has been found to be a major predictor of an increase in contamination symptoms. It has also been suggested that these effects may be accounted for by feared-self perceptions, that renders certain individuals more vulnerable to COVID-related stress and its effect on contamination-related symptomatology. We hypothesized that feared self-perceptions would predict COVID-19-related stress and that both feared self-perceptions and COVID-19-related stress would predict contamination symptoms while controlling for age, education and sex. To test this hypothesis, 1137 community participants completed online questionnaires. Path analysis confirmed our hypotheses highlighting the importance of feared self-perceptions during the COVID-19 pandemic in its effect on stress and ensuing symptomatology. Further, women scored higher on questionnaires, but the relationship between feared self-perceptions, COVID-19-related stress and contamination symptoms remained similar. Implications for theory and research are discussed.