Fear of COVID-19, perceived academic stress, future anxiety, and psychological distress of Ghanaian university students: A serial mediation examination

Abstract

The study examined the direct and indirect relationships between fear of COVID-19 (FC), perceived academic stress (PAS), future anxiety (FA), and psychological distress (PD) among students in Ghana. Students (n = 241; female= 64.1%; mean age= 21.54 years, SD = 2.04 years) completed online surveys on fear of COVID-19, perceived academic stress, future anxiety, and psychological distress. Following mediation analysis performed in PROCESS, results revealed that academic stress and future anxiety independently and serially mediated the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and psychological distress. Independently, PAS mediated the relationship between FC and PD, and FA similarly mediated this relationship. Considered together, the effect of FC on PD initially occurred through PAS, and then FA We conclude that high psychological distress is associated with increased fear of COVID-19, perceived academic stress, and future anxiety of Ghanaian university students.