Anxiety Status of Instagram Users during Coronavirus Disease in Iran in 2020: A Cross-sectional Study

Background and aims: Today, with the increasing prevalence of COVID-19 in the world, the general population with excessive worry due to media reports has a higher level of psychological distress. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the state of anxiety among Instagram users in 2020. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted from June to July 2020 on 313 Instagram users. Coronavirus Anxiety Scale was used to measure anxiety caused by coronavirus in Iran. The subjects entered the study by availability sampling and filled out the questionnaire through the features of Instagram such as posts and stories. Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between independent and dependent variables according to the nature of the variable. The significance level was considered to be P < 0.05. Results: Out of 313 participants in the study, 218 (69.6%) were in the age range of 19-35 years. Additionally, 50.5% of them were male and the majority of the participants had academic education. Overall, 21.4% of the participants had moderate to severe anxiety. There was no significant relationship between the participants’ levels of anxiety and demographic variables (age groups, gender, and level of education) (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The results of chi-square test showed that no significant relationship was observed between the dimensions of anxiety based on the demographic characteristics of individuals such as age groups (P=0.256), gender (P=0.644), and level of education (P=0.415).