Fear of COVID-19 Higher among Food-Insecure Households: A Model-Based Study, Mediated by Perceived Stress among Iranian Populations

  1. Neda Ezzeddin
  2. Hassan Eini-Zinab
  3. Naser Kalantari
  4. Mohammad Ahmadi
  5. Zeinab Beheshti

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Abstract

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis accompanied by multiple psychological consequences (including fear of COVID-19) and threatens the food security status of millions of people. This study aimed to examine the association between fear of COVID-19 and food insecurity, mediated by perceived stress. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 2871 Iranian participants (18-80 years), recruited through the Social Media during the COVID-19 epidemic. The demographic and socio-economic information questionnaire, Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), COVID-19 fear scale (FCV-19S), Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14) and Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (MSPSS) were used in data gathering. Descriptive and analytical analyses were done using SPSS 22.0 and Amos 22.0 was used for structural equation modeling (SES). Results: Food insecurity has significant positive direct and indirect (mediated by perceived stress) correlations with fear of COVID-19 (P < 0.05). It was also shown that perceived social support could negatively relate to fear of COVID-19 through the pathways of food security status or perceived stress (P < 0.05). Among women, the presence of a child under 5 had a significant direct association with fear of COVID-19 (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Food insecurity was associated with more perceived fear of COVID-19 among the studied population. The crisis caused by COVID-19 highlights the need to increase social resilience through developing and implementing appropriate strategies to prevent and mitigate social costs (whether physical, psychological, or nutritional).

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  1. Version published to 10.18502/ijps.v17i4.10689
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.12.22.20248714: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementConsent: All participants were included after approving an informed consent form.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: Thank you for sharing your data.

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Limitations: This cross-sectional study was conducted among an Iranian online population, through popular social networks. Currently, no previous study has examined the relationship between household food insecurity and fear of COVID-19 (or the research is limited), so the present study is innovative in terms of subject matter. Another strength of this study was its use of different variables, and the assessment of their interaction within the model. However, the study had some limitations, including the lower participation of older people (over 65). Convenience sampling, which was used in data gathering, may be accompanied with bias and lower generalizability (Ahorsu et al., 2020). In order to address these limitations, this study utilized a relatively high sample size, a proportional approach to geographical distribution, and data weighting.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.12.22.20248714v1 on medRxiv