TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender Difference in Fear and Anxiety about and Perceived Susceptibility to COVID-19 in the Third Wave of Pandemic among the Japanese General Population
T2 - A Nationwide Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey
AU - Sasaki, Rio
AU - Ota, Atsuhiko
AU - Yatsuya, Hiroshi
AU - Tabuchi, Takahiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was granted by Fujita Health University School of Medicine and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grants (grant numbers: 18H03062 and 21H04856). The research funders had no role in the design of the study; the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to publish the results. The findings and conclusions of this article are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the research funders.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Existing research suggested gender differences in fear and anxiety about and perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 and previous infectious disease pandemics. We analyzed whether women felt fear and anxiety about and perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 more frequently than men in Japan. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using internet survey data collected during the third wave of the pandemic in Japan. The subjects were enrolled from the Japanese general population: 11,957 men and 11,559 women. Fear and anxiety specifically related to COVID-19 were evaluated with the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FoCS). The question “How likely do you think you will be infected with COVID-19?” was used to assess the perceived susceptibility to COVID-19. Women had higher mean (standard deviation) FoCS scores [18.6 (5.6) vs. 17.5 (5.9), d = 0.190] and reported the median or higher FoCS score (57.4% vs. 51.4%, φ = 0.060) and perceived susceptibility (13.6% vs. 11.5%, φ = 0.032) more frequently than men. The odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) adjusted for age, having a spouse, comorbidities, watching commercial TV stations’ news programs, employment status, and household income were 1.24 (1.17–1.32) and 1.27 (1.16–1.38), respectively. We observed that women were more anxious and fearful about and perceived the susceptibility to infectious diseases more frequently than men even one year after the pandemic occurred in Japan, although the effect size was small.
AB - Existing research suggested gender differences in fear and anxiety about and perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 and previous infectious disease pandemics. We analyzed whether women felt fear and anxiety about and perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 more frequently than men in Japan. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using internet survey data collected during the third wave of the pandemic in Japan. The subjects were enrolled from the Japanese general population: 11,957 men and 11,559 women. Fear and anxiety specifically related to COVID-19 were evaluated with the Japanese version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FoCS). The question “How likely do you think you will be infected with COVID-19?” was used to assess the perceived susceptibility to COVID-19. Women had higher mean (standard deviation) FoCS scores [18.6 (5.6) vs. 17.5 (5.9), d = 0.190] and reported the median or higher FoCS score (57.4% vs. 51.4%, φ = 0.060) and perceived susceptibility (13.6% vs. 11.5%, φ = 0.032) more frequently than men. The odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) adjusted for age, having a spouse, comorbidities, watching commercial TV stations’ news programs, employment status, and household income were 1.24 (1.17–1.32) and 1.27 (1.16–1.38), respectively. We observed that women were more anxious and fearful about and perceived the susceptibility to infectious diseases more frequently than men even one year after the pandemic occurred in Japan, although the effect size was small.
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph192316239
DO - 10.3390/ijerph192316239
M3 - Article
C2 - 36498310
AN - SCOPUS:85143736070
VL - 19
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
SN - 1661-7827
IS - 23
M1 - 16239
ER -