How does fear of COVID-19 differ from depression and generalized anxiety in the interplay of death anxiety and emotion regulation?

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the mental health of medical students. Symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety intensified, and a new type of fear, the fear of COVID-19, emerged. These changes are potentially induced by increased death anxiety, and variability in psychological outcomes are potentially explained by emotion regulation differences. Terror Management Theory and Gross’s Emotion Regulation Model informed this research, and the goal of the study is to examine whether emotion regulation mediates the effect of death anxiety on depression, generalized anxiety, and the fear of COVID-19. Data from 192 medical students were gathered through online surveys, which included sociodemographic questions, the Beck Depression Inventory, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale–Brief Form, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, and Death Anxiety Scale. Mediation analyses revealed that emotion regulation difficulties fully mediated the relationship between death anxiety and depression and between death anxiety and generalized anxiety. However, the mediation effect did not take place between death anxiety and COVID-19-related fear. The findings suggest that the COVID-19-related fear could be different from other psychological conditions. The study highlights the differential psychological impact of the pandemic and the vulnerability of medical students. Clinical and educational implications are discussed in the light of the relevant literature.