Ketakutan terhadap Covid-19, agreeableness, dan neuroticism sebagai anteseden psychological distress selama pandemi Covid-19
Authors: Dianti Rahma , Tondok Marselius Sampe 
Published: November 2023

Background: Covid-19 is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. On March 11 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared Covid-19 a pandemic. In Indonesia, the first positive case was detected on March 2 2020. Covid-19 can cause several symptoms in infected individuals such as fever, cough, difficulty breathing, fatigue, loss of sense of smell and taste, headaches, etc. One of the psychological impacts caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is psychological distress. Psychological distress is an individual's emotional state when facing something that is perceived as threatening, which is characterized by depression and anxiety.Purpose: To determine the effect of fear of Covid-19 and personality traits on psychological distress during the Covid-19 pandemic.Method: Quantitative cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire as a means of collecting data. Respondents were obtained using convenience sampling, which is a non-probability sampling method that takes respondents who are easy to access. Respondent criteria are individuals who are at least 18 years old and express consent through informed consent. The research was conducted on 8 November - 2 December 2021 using Google forms which were distributed via various social media with 337 respondents.Results: The average age of respondents in the study was 27.37 years with an SD value = 7.787, most of the respondents were in the 18-30 year age range, 264 people (78.3%). Fear of Covid-19 and neuroticism have a unidirectional influence on psychological distress, which means that the higher the fear of Covid-19 and the more dominant the individual's neuroticism personality, the higher the psychological distress felt during the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the agreeableness dimension has an inverse effect, so that the more dominant the individual's agreeable personality, the lower the psychological distress felt.Conclusion: Fear of Covid-19, personality trait agreeableness, and personality trait neuroticism are factors that can predict individual psychological distress during the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the personality traits extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness do not have a significant influence on psychological distress during the pandemic. Apart from that, demographic factors such as age, who the individual lives with, monthly income, and history of comorbidities can cause differences in levels of psychological distress.Keywords: Covid-19; Fear; Neuroticism; Psychological Distress Pendahuluan: Covid-19 merupakan penyakit menular yang disebabkan oleh virus SARS-CoV-2. Pada tanggal 11 Maret 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) resmi menetapkan Covid-19 sebagai sebuah pandemi. Di Indonesia, kasus positif yang pertama dideteksi pada tanggal 2 Maret 2020. Covid-19 dapat menimbulkan beberapa gejala pada individu yang terinfeksi seperti demam, batuk, kesulitan bernafas, kelelahan, kehilangan indera penciuman dan perasa, sakit kepala, dan lain-lain. Salah satu dampak psikologis yang diakibatkan oleh pandemi Covid-19 adalah psychological distress. Psychological distress merupakan keadaan emosi individu ketika menghadapi sesuatu yang dipersepsi mengancam, yang ditandai dengan depresi dan kecemasan.Tujuan: Untuk mengetahui pengaruh dari ketakutan terhadap Covid-19 dan personality traits terhadap psychological distress selama pandemi Covid-19.Metode: Penelitian kuantitatif survei cross-sectional dengan penggunaan kuesioner sebagai alat untuk mengumpulkan data. Responden diperoleh menggunakan convenience sampling yaitu metode sampling non-probabilitas mengambil responden yang mudah untuk diakses. Kriteria responden adalah individu yang sudah berusia minimal 18 tahun dan menyatakan persetujuan melalui informed consent. Penelitian dilakukan pada tanggal 8 November - 2 Desember 2021 menggunakan google forms yang disebarkan melalui berbagai media sosial dengan responden sebanyak 337 orang.Hasil: Rata-rata usia responden pada penelitian adalah 27.37 tahun dengan nilai SD = 7.787, sebagian besar responden berada pada rentang usia 18-30 tahun sebanyak 264 orang (78.3%). Fear of Covid-19 dan neuroticism memiliki pengaruh yang searah terhadap psychological distress, yang artinya semakin tinggi ketakutan terhadap Covid-19 dan semakin dominan kepribadian neuroticism dari individu, semakin tinggi pula psychological distress yang dirasakan selama pandemi Covid-19. Sebaliknya, dimensi agreeableness memiliki pengaruh yang terbalik, sehingga semakin dominan kepribadian agreeableness dari individu, semakin rendah psychological distress yang dirasakan.Simpulan: Ketakutan terhadap Covid-19, personality trait agreeableness, dan personality trait neuroticism merupakan faktor-faktor yang dapat memprediksi psychological distress individu selama pandemi Covid-19. Sedangkan personality trait extraversion, conscientiousness, dan openness tidak memiliki pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap psychological distress selama pandemi. Selain itu, faktor demografi seperti usia, dengan siapa individu tinggal, pendapatan per bulan, serta riwayat penyakit penyerta dapat menimbulkan perbedaan tingkat psychological distress.