Fear of COVID-19, Coronavirus Stress and COVID-19 Burnout in Turkish Young Adults: Mediating Role of Social Connectedness

Previous studies have largely focused on the investigation of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic -related stressors on burnout in healthcare professionals, with limited research examining the relationship between pandemic -related stressors and burnout in the young population. This research aimed to examine whether fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus stress are related to COVID-19 burnout and whether social connectedness mediated this association. This study used a cross-sectional survey among 468 Turkish individuals (57.48% females, mean age 22.12 +/- 1.42 years) and collected data on their COVID-19-related experiences of fear, stress, and burnout as well as their levels of social connectedness. The results indicated that fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus stress significantly negatively predicted social connectedness and significantly positively predicted COVID-19 burnout. Also, social connectedness significantly negatively predicted COVID-19 burnout. Furthermore, the relationships between fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus stress with COVID-19 burnout were mediated by social connectedness. This research presented preliminary findings that fear of COVID-19 and coronavirus stress might be significant risk factors for increased burnout. However, social connectedness might mitigate the impacts of these factors on the psychological health of young adults. These results have implications for the discussion of social connectedness -based approaches to promote psychological health of youth.