Racial Differences in Perceived Stress and Fear Due to Covid-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected hundreds of thousands of people in the US alone. Of those infected with the virus, 33.8% have been LatinX and 21.8% have been African American despite these minority groups comprising a smaller percentage of the US population (Tai et al., 2020). This is thought to be due to minority ethnic/racial groups having increased risk of COVID infection and a higher prevalence in occupations considered essential during the COVID-19 pandemic (Kopel et al. 2020, Rogers et al. 2020). In this study, we wanted to examine if perceived stress and fear associated with COVID-19 differs across self-identified racial groups. To measure these variables in a sample of Georgia Southern students, we used the Perceived Stress Scale, the Revised COVID Phobia Scale, and other measures developed by researchers to assess attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and the adverse impact of the pandemic. Demographic questions were used to collect data on the participants’ ethnicity, ages, and gender. Our first hypothesis is that minority groups would report higher perceived stress, fear, and adverse impact due to COVID. Our second hypothesis is that minority groups would report attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors reflective of greater appreciation of risk associated with COVID-19