Why am i terrified of chinese people

The C. High scores indicate higher cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, respectively. Questions were listed in an online questionnaire, which was screened and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Army Medical University of China and Wenjuanxing online platform 1 which providing functions equivalent to Amazon Mechanical Turk.

After click-signing on an online informed consent form, individuals completed the questionnaire through an online link. The target population was the individuals under the pandemic except special careers, such as medical workers, police, military, etc. The questionnaire included variables about demographic information and psychological factors fear emotion, sources of fear, risk perception, avoidant behavior tendency, disturbed physical function, emotional regulation, and emotional expressivity.

Stratified linear hierarchical regression analysis was carried out to observe the predictors of fear emotion, in which demographic variables were put as first layer, and psychological factors were second layer. Linear regression analysis was also carried out to observe the prediction of fear emotion on disturbed physical function. Structural equation model was carried out with AMOS Evidence of model fit was determined according to standard interpretations of the fit indices, including CFI values of at least.

In total, 70, Through frequency analysis, it was found that 62, participants Frequency analysis showed that the top three causes of fear were: being infected by the virus, the possibility of people being infected without isolation, and new confirmed cases see Figure 1.

In addition, insufficient duty by medical staff member and being isolated due to the pandemic were the bottom two reasons for fear. Figure 1. The sources of fear in Chinese population. These found that the scores for fear differed by gender, age, degree of education, marital status, person type, city type categorized by confirmed cases in city or area , and whether having experienced epidemic such as SARS. Higher levels of fear were found in females, people of elder age, individuals with postgraduate or higher degrees, patients and medical staff member, individuals coming from a city or area with most serious levels of pandemic and those who had experienced SARS, while unmarried people reported lowest levels of fear see Table 1.

Figure 2. The effect of risk perception on fear in Chinese population. Figure 3. The effect of fear on avoidant behavior tendencies and disturbed physical function in Chinese population. A The effect of fear on avoidant behavior tendencies in Chinese population. B The effect of fear on disturbed physical function in Chinese population.

With the level of fear as the dependent variable, a stratified linear regression was conducted with demographic factors including age, gender, marital status, degree of education, person type, and city type and psychological factors including risk perception and emotional regulation as independent variables. The results showed that among the demographic factors, being unmarried, having a relatively higher educational level high school and college , and living in a city or area with fewer confirmed cases were protective factors of the level of fear.

Being older, female, having a postgraduate or higher educational level, being a patient or medical staff member, were risk factors for fear. To further explore the interaction between fear emotion and risk perception, avoidant behavior tendency, and physical function, a hypothesis-driven model test was carried out as Figure 4. Fear emotion had positive direct effect on avoidant behavior tendency and disturbed physical function, and indirect effect on disturbed physical function 0.

The results indicated a positive effect of risk perception on fear emotion, and a mediation effect of fear emotion between risk perception and avoidant behavior tendency and disturbed physical function. Figure 4. Mediation analysis of fear emotion. The findings showed that the Chinese population experienced some fear, but was not panicking during the pandemic. Being unmarried, having a relatively high educational level, living in a city or area with fewer confirmed cases, cognitive reappraisal, positive expressivity and negative inhibition were protective predictors of the level of fear.

In this study, Further analysis found that this fear was mainly mild, indicating that the Chinese population was not panicking. The top three sources of fear in this study were: being infected by the virus, the possibility of people being infected without isolation, and new confirmed cases. It can be seen that the characteristics of the disease itself infectious and high risk were the main source of fear in public.

Findings confirmed that the main sources of fear came from both the possible influence of the pandemic on the individual, and the macro-development of a national epidemic. These findings provide suggestions to the government about required emotional guidance during the pandemic, i. Our study showed that there were stronger levels of fear in females and people of older age.

Older participants may have experienced stronger fear due to having poorer health status and being more vulnerable to the virus. This is consistent with the fact that unmarried young people reported the lowest levels of negative emotion due to most likely having better health status in general. Individuals with postgraduate or higher degrees and people who had experienced SARS may have had stronger fear because they knew more about the dangers of viruses.

As hypothesized, people from Hubei province an area with most serious pandemic levels reported stronger fear. As expected, patients and medical staff members reported the strongest fear, especially patients who were confirmed and suspected cases. However, recovered patients reported relatively lower fear, which was consistent with reporting regarding SARS Tse et al.

These results allow us to identify the populations that most need emotional guidance, and to focus limited psychological resources during epidemics.

Therefore, early and reasonable risk perception interventions are particularly important when adjusting fear in the Chinese population.

In Chinese culture, expressive suppression was not entirely an inappropriate regulation strategy. East Asian culture emphasized avoiding hurting others and striving to maintain harmonious relationships, suppression was associated with better social functioning Butler et al.

For example, a study of insurance workers in Hong Kong showed that the increase of suppression was associated with fewer negative emotions Yeung and Fung, Another study showed that Asian-Americans who rated suppression as more valuable had better emotional responses to anger elicited Mauss and Butler, Similarly, among Chinese college students, the relationship between suppression and interpersonal harmony was significantly positive Su et al. Thus, when people experience fear emotion during an epidemic, they can modulate it through the selection of an emotional regulation strategy, i.

As seen from the regression analysis, we could see that being unmarried, having a relatively high educational level, and living in a city or area with fewer confirmed cases were protective factors for fear. Being of older age, female, having studied at the postgraduate or higher educational level, being a patient or medical staff members were risk factors.

This study systematically explored the protective and risk predictors of fear taking into account demographic and psychological variables. These findings will help focus on specific populations most in need of future psychological interventions and offer further evidence to support the development of more effective psychological training programs.

We found that fear increased avoidant behavior tendencies and significantly disturbed physical function. This is consistent with a large number of studies, confirming that negative emotions are associated with a poor lifestyle, such as sleep and diet Huang et al.

Regression analysis indicated that the level of fear and avoidant behavior tendencies positively predicted disturbed physical function. The results suggested a bridging role of fear between risk perception, avoidant behaviors, and physical disturbance.

Thus, to better maintain normal psychological and physical function under crisis, intervention, and guidance on fear emotion is critical. This investigation broadened TAS theory through the inclusion of disturbed physical health, and helped to develop more targeted and directed early intervention to prevent these problems.

First, fear in the population was only assessed using one subjective item, and there was a lack of systematic objective evaluation. Second, there was a lack of in-depth exploration of the impact factors of fear, such as psychological resilience, coping style, and so on. Third, this was a cross-sectional study, which precludes causal conclusions. However, with a large sample that covered all provinces and areas of China, this study was sufficiently powerful to accurately reflect public fear in China during the COVID pandemic.

Moreover, this online investigation was carried out during the case increasing stage of the pandemic from January 27 to February 11, , which allowed clear observation regarding the trends of fear during this period.

At the early stage of the epidemic, the Chinese public experienced a mild degree of fear which declined over time. Fear functions as a bridge between risk perception, avoidant behaviors, and physical disturbance. The current snapshot of public emotion offers theoretical evidence for psychological assistance and emotional guidance during a crisis, and provides suggestions as to how best to deliver psychological support in future major public health emergencies.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation. The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Army Medical University of China and Wenjuanxing online platform www. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in the study.

QD designed the study, collected the data, and reviewed and revised the manuscript. BC collected and analyzed the data and final manuscript. XS and FX assisted the data collection and contributed to the manuscript writing. All authors have read and approved the submitted version. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

We also thank all participants who took part in this online investigation. We appreciated the hardworking of all graduate students who took part in this study as research assistants. Anderson, L. Associations among fear, disgust, and eating pathology in undergraduate men and women. Appetite , — Appukuttan, D. Dental anxiety among adults: An epidemiological study in South India. North Am. Baron, R. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations.

Barr, M. Pandemic influenza in Australia: Using telephone surveys to measure perceptions of threat and willingness to comply. BMC Infect. Beatriz, T. Anxiety before extraction of impacted lower third molars. Boekaerts, and Monique. Emotions, emotion regulation, and Self-Regulation of learning.

NewYork, NY: Routledg. Google Scholar. Most social movements in China — both online and offline — gain traction only within similar groups whose interests are clearly aligned.

Environmental protests against the construction of chemical plants in the cities of Xiamen and Dalian in and , for example, drew students and urbanites. The outbreak affects Chinese across classes and threatens different interest groups within classes. Quarantines of entire villages and communities, sealed off as the government tries to control the outbreak of the virus, impact the lives of every single resident.

Nor are rural areas exempt from coronavirus. Economically, coronavirus hurts a wide swath of Chinese society, too. With factories and offices shuttered , both white-collar and blue-collar workers are facing potential layoffs or delayed return to work, depriving them of income.

Street vendors, shops and service industries are all hit hard. The lack of government transparency, a censored press, inequality and the shortage of medical resources are longstanding problems in China. Coronavirus brought them to the fore, and, if only for a brief moment, the Chinese people demanded better.

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