Mediating Effect of Coping Strategies between Personality and Anxiety during COVID-19

Abstract Introduction: Several studies have highlighted the psychological consequences (anxiety, depression) of COVID-19 in India. However, the effect of personality on anxiety, mediated by coping, remains scarce. Method: For carrying out this study, 215 healthy, unmarried, educated Indian adults participated in an online form-based study comprising measures of personality (The Big Five Inventory-2-S), coping (Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations-21), and anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-6). Results: Analyses were done after controlling gender, age, work, and family status. Negative-emotionality and emotion-oriented coping were the highest predictors of anxiety. A contradictory finding showed conscientiousness to predict and increase anxiety upon using coping strategies. Emotion-oriented coping mediated the relationship between negative-emotionality and anxiety. Open-mindedness had an insignificant total effect on anxiety but reduced it when mediated by emotion-oriented coping. Additionally, higher anxiety was reported in those who watched one hour or more of pandemic news per day. Conclusion: Emotion-oriented coping was found to be an ineffective strategy to alleviate anxiety in those with higher trait neuroticism. The flexibility provided by trait openness facilitated effective use of emotion-oriented coping in reducing anxiety.