This study assessed the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and the coping strategies female university students reported using during the post-emergency phase of the pandemic. A convenience sample of 1,000 female students (mean age 21.5 ± 2.5 years) completed self-report measures including the FCV-19S for fear and a coping-with-outbreak scale (COS). Results indicated a positive association between FCV-19S and COS scores. Importantly, physical activity status and COVID-19 infection experience moderated the association between fear and coping. The authors conclude that individual characteristics such as sedentary habits and firsthand infection experiences may continue to shape fear and coping responses after the acute emergency, and they recommend interventions like regular exercise to bolster coping dynamics. De-identified participant-level data were provided as supporting information; no specific funding or competing interests were reported.
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced widespread physical and psychological effects. Among young college populations, fear—particularly fear of COVID-19—has been a prominent emotional response owing to concerns about contagion, serious illness, and risk to loved ones. Fear can provoke psychological and physiological responses that in turn influence behavior and mental health. Prior literature cited by the authors documents elevated prevalence of depression, anxiety, and distress during the pandemic and highlights gendered differences, with women and female students reported at higher risk for adverse mental health outcomes.
Coping strategies are conceptualized following Lazarus and Folkman’s Stress and Coping Process Model as cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage internal and external demands. The authors frame fear as a perceived environmental threat that may trigger coping responses to differing extents depending on personal characteristics and resources. The introduction argues that while the independent effects of fear and coping have been studied, less is known about factors that moderate the link between fear and coping among female university students. The current study therefore examines whether various variables—specifically physical activity status and COVID-19 infection experience—moderate the relationship between fear and coping in this population.
Participants in this cross-sectional study were 1,000 female students recruited by convenience sampling from faculties at Ondokuz Mayıs University in Türkiye, including Dentistry, Divinity, Education, Health Sciences, and Medicine. Convenience sampling was used for practical access to participants during the post-emergency research period.
Infection status: Participants classified as COVID-19 positive reported laboratory-confirmed diagnoses as recorded in the Turkish Ministry of Health electronic health record system (e-Nabız), to which individuals have direct access. All participants who reported a COVID-19 infection also reported having received vaccination prior to infection.
Physical activity categorization: The recreationally active group included those who declared more than six hours per week of activities such as running, cycling, swimming, tennis, or fitness. The sedentary group included those who did not regularly practice sports or who performed less than two hours of exercise per week.
Measures: Fear of COVID-19 was assessed using the FCV-19S (Fear of COVID-19 Scale). Coping with the outbreak was measured via a coping scale referenced as COS. Full details of the instruments (for example, item counts, subscales, or psychometric indices) were reported in the full article; specific internal reliability coefficients or scoring cutoffs are not reported in the summary provided here.
Data and ethics: De-identified participant-level data underlying the findings were supplied as supporting information (S1 Dataset) and anonymized to protect participant privacy. The authors reported no specific funding for the work and declared no competing interests.
The primary analytic outcome reported in the abstract and summary was a positive relationship between scores on the FCV-19S and COS, indicating that higher reported fear of COVID-19 was associated with greater reported coping activity. In addition, physical activity status and COVID-19 positive/negative experience were identified as moderators of the FCV-19S–COS relationship, meaning these characteristics altered the strength or direction of the association between fear and coping.
The available summary does not report numerical effect sizes, confidence intervals, p-values, or the specific form of moderation (for example, simple slopes, interaction coefficients, or subgroup comparisons). Tables and figures were provided in the original article (Tables 1–2 and Figures 1–3) to present descriptive statistics and model results, but the specific statistical estimates are not included in the text excerpt used for this rewrite.
The authors interpret the positive association between fear and coping within the Stress and Coping Process Model: individuals’ cognitive appraisal of the pandemic (fear) is linked to the selection and deployment of coping strategies, and individual resources or experiences can modify this link. The moderation by physical activity suggests that lifestyle behaviors (recreational activity versus sedentary habits) influence how fear translates into coping responses. Similarly, having experienced a COVID-19 infection (self-reported laboratory confirmation) appears to change coping dynamics post-infection.
Practical implications emphasized by the authors include the potential of interventions—particularly those promoting regular exercise—to strengthen adaptive coping processes in the face of stressful public health events. The discussion notes the importance of considering gendered determinants and the heterogeneity of responses among female students when designing mental health or behavioral interventions during and after pandemics.
Limitations: The summary indicates convenience sampling and reliance on self-report measures. Additional limitations (for example, cross-sectional design, potential selection bias, or unmeasured confounding) are likely discussed in the full article, but specific details and quantitative limitations were not included in the excerpt provided here.
In a sample of 1,000 female university students, fear of COVID-19 was positively associated with coping strategies, and this association was moderated by both physical activity status and COVID-19 infection experience. The findings suggest that individual characteristics such as sedentary lifestyle and firsthand infection history can continue to shape fear and coping responses after the acute phase of a pandemic. The authors recommend interventions—such as regular exercise—to enhance coping dynamics in response to stressful events or public health crises. De-identified data are available as supporting information; no funding was reported and authors declared no competing interests.