AIR UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

‘BS Accounting & Finance’

Business Research Methods (BRM)

Project

‘The Impact of COVID-19 on Psychological and Personality Trait Factors’

Submitted to; Submitted from;

Dr. Saman Attiq Danial Khan (170059)
Mishal Zikria (170044)
BSAF - 7 (VII)
Acknowledgement

This research is done with the Grace of Allah Almighty and with the guidance of Dr. Saman
Attiq which made us compile and complete this research.

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Table of Content

Chapter 1

Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 5

Chapter 2

Literature Review _______________________________________________________ 7

Chapter 3

Research Methodology __________________________________________________ 15

Instruments and Measures _______________________________________________ 15

Procedures ___________________________________________________________ 15

Chapter 4

Questionnaire ________________________________________________________ 16

Result & Analysis _____________________________________________________ 20

Descriptive Analysis of Demographic Variables _____________________________ 20

Descriptive Analysis of study Variables ____________________________________ 22

Reliability Analysis ____________________________________________________ 25

Correlation Analysis ___________________________________________________ 25

Regression Analysis ___________________________________________________ 27

Chapter 5

Conclusion __________________________________________________________ 29

Recommendations ____________________________________________________ 30

References __________________________________________________________ 31

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 The Impact of COVID-19 on Psychological and Personality Trait Factors

Abstract

Covid-19 disease spread has become the most challenging act to fight against it. Similarly, there
are various factors and attributes that change the world due to the Covid-19. One of the impacts
regarding Covid-19 is the Psychological and personality trait factors. It can cause a change in the
consumer buying behaviour and how a consumer acts along the Covid-19 situation. This study
has taken various factors that includes worry about illness, concern about pain, health habits,
hypochondriacal beliefs, thanatophobia, disease phobia, bodily preoccupation, treatment
experience, effect of symptom and information overload, that is related to the compulsive buying
behaviour. A sample of 42 respondents has been taken randomly from university students. The
disease phobia has an effect on compulsive buying behaviour that has been focused by the
respondents. For a normal respondent, the control of fear and not taking stress might help us to
fight Covid-19 psychologically.

Keywords: Health habits, Hypochondriacal beliefs, thanatophobia, disease phobia, bodily

preoccupation, information overload, compulsive buying behaviour

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Chapter 1

Introduction

In 2019, a disease, which later became a pandemic, is known as COVID-19 or Coronavirus.

Coronavirus is a type of virus, as there are various kinds of viruses in which few cause disease. A
type of disease that became fatal and triggered worldwide pandemic of respiratory illness is the
COVID-19. It first emerged in China, December 2019. The disease includes symptoms of cough,
fever, chills, breathing difficulty, muscle aches, sore throat, headache, and various other
symptoms which sometimes became serious for the patients. Due to a disease as a virus it
spreads from person to person, through the air, touching others, handshaking, or any other
physical contact of people. The vaccine is not yet developed but scientists are trying their best to
minimize the hit of COVID-19 all around the world.

The COVID-19 is such a disease that causes people to act carefully against it by staying at home,
not going to public places, and not gathering on any occasion. Due to Covid-19, people started
worrying about their lives, their surroundings, and people who are near to themselves. It also
caused a hit to the economic growth of every country, struggling to stand up against it. People
lost jobs, millions and millions of people became unemployed all around the world. As far as the
safety of a person is concerned, a wealthy person can afford a house, no job, and routine going
on. While for a daily wager, who needs its lifecycle running, or a regular person, needs a job to
finance the expenses of daily life and survive the situation. The one and only thing common in a
wealthy and working people was the fear of COVID-19, and later found out the beliefs and
attitudes matter the most in this pandemic.

Therefore, it is essential to understand the potential psychological changes caused by COVID-19

in a timely manner. Since psychological changes caused by public health emergencies can be
reflected directly in emotions and cognition, we can monitor psychological changes in time
through emotional (e.g., negative emotions and positive emotions) and cognitive indicators (e.g.,
social risk judgment and life satisfaction). [1] (Li, Wang, Xue, Zhao & Zhu, 2020)

Resilience is associated with personality traits such as optimism, creativity, and intelligence, as
well as belief of social support and connectedness to the environment. The current crisis offers
opportunities to see who copes best with the current situation, versus those who experience the
greatest difficulties, including the determinants of these differences. It is also good to mention
the availability of specific treatments that can reduce stress, such as mindfulness-based
interventions. Several recent studies have shown that mindfulness can reduce depression and
anxiety, and even improve motor symptoms. These courses are usually given in groups of
patients, but they may also be offered through online platforms. Such web-based solutions can

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also provide a means to reduce social isolation, which is yet another hidden consequence of this
ongoing pandemic. [2] (Helmich & Bloem, 2020)

The Psychological and personality traits might also be linked to the panic situation like fear
which might get into the minds of people. The common problems regarding Covid-19 are the
psychological stress and its fear that might cause a person to get emotionally disturbed or either
they are having a problem of Hypochondriasis.

Hypochondriasis, also known as Hypochondria, leads a person to Illness anxiety disorder, which
means that a person will consciously be thinking of getting ill, worrying about as it has or will be
caught with some disease. A person might have a small sign of body change, where a physical
symptom or not, muscle twitching, fatigue, blur vision, which triggers a person to be over
conscious about catching or caught an illness. This might not be true, the medial exam might be
clear, having no symptoms of illness or any sort of disease. Does a question arise that why a
person was being worried about it? It is because the person is taking stress on himself or anxiety
made it as something is up to him, made him worry about which is never true, leads to illness
anxiety disorder.

In the past, several studies have been done on hypochondria regarding hypochondriacal attitudes
in multiple groups of people. These studies show that a strong relationship is between attributes
as Fear and Beliefs and hypochondriac patients. The Fears and Beliefs arise and vary from
community to community or culture, also based on what situations a person has gone through or
dealt in its growing age. The Fears and Beliefs of a community might be same or slightly
different but the sensitivity of affectlessness on a person also varies. Some might fear or might
not fear. Similarly, some might have strong belief in something which leads to fear or might be
strong enough to belief but not fear from it.

Compulsive buying behavior (CBB) is defined by repetitive and uncontrollable buying that
becomes a primary response to negative feelings [3] (Ridgway et al., 2008; Faber & O’Guinn,
1992). CBB has severe harmful personal, social and financial consequences for an individual [4]
(Black et al., 2012). Compulsive buying is defined by the presence of repetitive impulsive and
excessive buying leading to personal and familial distress. [5] (Helmich & Bloem, 2020)

The research been conducted relates the impact of Covid-19 on Psychological and personality
trait factors. The study is related regarding the compulsive buying behavior towards
precautionary measures or products. It impacts on the worry about illness, concern about pain,
health habits, hypochondriacal beliefs, thanatophobia, disease phobia, bodily preoccupation,
treatment experience and effects of symptoms. Another major impact on compulsive buying
behavior is information overload.

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Chapter 2

Literature Review

1. Compulsive Buying Behavior

Compulsive buying behavior is defined as a consumer’s tendency to be preoccupied with buying

that is revealed through repetitive buying and a lack of impulse control over buying [3]
(Ridgway et al., 2008). Compulsive buying behavior incorporates both dimension of impulse
control disorder (ICD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) [3] (Ridgway et al., 2008).
Compulsive buying has severe harmful personal (stress, depression, anxiety, lower self-esteem,
guilt), social (criticism, shame, hiding behavior, family arguments, criminal problems, legal
problems) and financial (debts, inability to meet payments) consequences [4] (Black et al.,
2012). To understand this behavior is also imperative for policymakers as CBB severely affects
the wellbeing of not only the affected individual but also society as a whole [6] (He et al.,
2018). In this research, we identify and explore the impact of Covid-19 towards the
consequences of compulsive buying behavior towards precautionary measures or instruments.

2. Worry about Illness

Health anxiety is a condition that causes healthy people to worry that they are sick, even when
they have no symptoms or minor symptoms like a scratchy throat. "People with health anxiety
for the most part tend to fear severe illness, such as HIV, cancer, or dementia. They worry far less
about strep throat, twisting their ankle, or getting a cold,” [7] (Helmich & Bloem, 2020).
Compulsive buying disorder (CBD) is characterized by excessive shopping cognitions and
buying behavior that leads to distress or impairment. Found worldwide, the disorder has a
lifetime prevalence of 5.8% in the US general population.[8] (Black, 2007). In a study of the
antecedents and consequences of CBD, [9] (Miltenberger et al., 2003) reported that negative
emotions (e.g., depression, anxiety, boredom, self-critical thoughts, anger) were the most
commonly cited antecedents to CBD, while euphoria or relief from the negative emotions was
the most common consequence. Due to the current situation of Covid-19, the global health
agencies struggle to find a solution for containment, the major strategies recommended by the
World Health Organization (WHO) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are
social distancing, hand, and respiratory hygiene. The demand for sanitizers, soaps, and gloves
have sky-rocketed all over as hand washing is considered to be one of the safest precautions
against the infection. Every single media source is stressing on the importance of hygienic
measures, washing, and prevention of contamination [10] (Banerjee, 2020). As we can conclude

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from different studies cited above we found that worry about illness has a positive influence on
CBB. Therefore, we assume that;

H1: Worry About Illness has a positive with CBB

3. Concern about Pain

Pain is defined as a negative signal to your nervous system. It’s an unpleasant feeling and can be
described with various modifiers. Your pain can be located in one place or felt in multiple areas
of your body [11] (Sawyers, 2020). Chronic pain patients are at higher risk for depression, social
isolation itself is a risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms. [12] (Goesling,
Clauw & Hassett, 2013).It is obvious that the relationship between chronic pain, COVID-19
related mental disorders, and the affected of social isolation could be dramatic for these patients,
with further impairment of their clinical conditions, and quality of life in general. [13] (Piraccini,
Byrne & Taddei, 2020). People stocking up medicine online with countries now putting in place
COVID-19 travel restrictions to minimize the spread of the virus, U.S. consumers are stocking
up on over-the-counter meds, most likely to be prepared in case they do catch the virus and need
to self-quarantine. Adobe’s analysis of eCommerce transactions found that purchases for cold,
cough & flu products have increased 198%, while online purchases for pain relievers increased
152%. Ecommerce purchases of the virus protection category of products such as hand
sanitizers, gloves, masks, and antibacterial sprays have surged by 817%, according to Adobe’s
analysis. [14] (Abramovich, 2020). As people are very concerned about the pandemic so for
precautionary measures they buy medicines and other useful things for their pain if they suffer
this disease as there is a shortage of medicines nowadays. As we can conclude from different
studies cited above we found that concern about pain has a positive relationship with CBB.
Therefore we can assume that;

H2: Concern About Pain has a positive relationship with CBB

4. Health Habits

A behavior that is beneficial to one’s physical or mental health, often linked to a high level of
discipline and self-control [15] ("healthy habit", 2020). The sudden forced lockdown and
incapability to keep rushing through the daily routine made many people aware of their
compulsive shopping behaviors. Especially to-go food turns out to be expensive, less healthy,
and unsustainable. The possibility to stay at home and to rethink where the time and money go
has brought many people back to think about their health and the possible consequences of their
purchasing behavior for the environment. One example is the increasing trend of cooking at

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home. This means being in full control of the food consumption because preparing ‘fresh’ meals
provide consumers with the opportunity to ensure they know exactly which ingredients they use
and where they come from. Being forced to plan their weekly food consumption more carefully
and doing more home cooking is encouraging consumers to think about the ingredients they use.
The result is a surge in interest for healthy food products that boost the immune system, such as
the so-called functional foods. The term ‘immunity’ in relation to food searches has increased by
27 percent between February last year and March of 2019, as reported by food intelligence
startup Tastewise. Organic food, plant-based food, and nutritional supplements seem to fall
within this category, which is probably why they received a boost in sales as well. Another
reason could be the incentive of consumers to allocate their purchasing money with companies
that they believe have an intention to contribute to a more sustainable future. A survey from the
strategy consultancy Oliver Wyman amongst 9000 consumers of nine federal districts shows the
corona crisis will permanently change the shopping behavior of 40 percent of German consumers
in regard to more sustainable shopping. (Link, 2020). As we can conclude from different studies
cited above we found that health habits have a positive relationship with CBB. Therefore we can
assume that;

H3: Health Habits has a positive relationship with CBB

5. Hypochondriacal Beliefs

Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly

worried about having a serious illness. An old concept, the meaning of hypochondria has
repeatedly changed [17] ("Hypochondriasis", 2020). Hypochondriasis manifests in various ways.
Some patients (“obsessive-compulsive hypochondria”), as in case 1 mentioned later, have
numerous intrusive thoughts and sensations during the day that lead them to check with family,
friends, the Internet, or numerous physicians for reassurance that they are not severely ill or
identification of the disease process. Others (“phobic hypochondria”), as in case 2, avoid health
care providers and any reference to illness in their daily lives, lest it raise the anxiety that they
seek to repress. These phobic patients, rather than being vigilant about their health, may become
neglectful. Others (“depressive hypochondria”), as in case 3, are more despair, living with a high
degree of conviction that they are afflicted with a life-threatening disease and do not have the
belief that any physician can help them or are too demoralized to seek help. Patients with
depressive hypochondria often have significant guilt over past actions and suspect that they are
being punished for their transgressions. Similarly patients try to get satisfied or satisfy
themselves by suddenly purchasing natural or organic products. The intake of a person on
organic products with respect to a normal intake of artificial products gets more and more which
makes a person believe that he is starting to recover or at least he is trying to cope up with the

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hypochondrial belief. The excessive use of organic products makes a direct relation with
compulsive buying behaviour in which the person is trying to believe that by using the organic
products he may get better or recover soon from hypochondrial beliefs. Therefore we can assume
that;

H4: Hypochondriacal beliefs has a positive relationship with compulsive buying behaviour

6. Thanatophobia

Thanatophobia is a form of anxiety that is referred to as the fear of death. It makes a person fear
death or fear the dying process. Thanatophobia patients are worried about its own health. It not
makes a person worry about itself, it makes worry about its friends and family as they are gone.
The percentage of fear makes a person relatively cautious. Thanatophobia affects a person by
anxiety and distress. There are multiple emotional changes as they avoid friends and family for
long periods of time, become anger, sad or feeling of guilt. Thanatophobia is treated without any
medical tests, rather the patient is referred to a therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist. The
Thanatophobia has a negative relation to the compulsive buying behaviour as the person starts to
worry about itself, makes him separate from others, becomes less social and tries to overcome its
fear. Therefore we can assume that;

H5: Thanatophobia has a negative relationship with compulsive buying behaviour

7. Disease Phobia

Disease Phobia is also known as Nosophobia. It is an extreme or irrational fear of causing a

disease. Disease Phobia causes a person to fear and have anxiety for catching a serious disease
that might affect its health. An individual with hypochondriasis believe that they have a
life-threatening illness despite that they have little to no physical signs and symptoms.Someone
with nosophobia, however, is afraid of contracting a specific disorder and becomes convinced
that they might have the signs of that specific ailment.However, not anyone who is afraid of
getting ill or contracting a contagious illness suffers from nosophobia. Those who are afflicted by
this phobia exhibit signs and symptoms that can cause limitations in their lives. Disease Phobia
also affects positively with compulsive buying behaviour as the person will try to use more
organic products and maintain their health, leaving artificial foods. The person with Disease
Phobia might become more selective for its products and purchasing or spending more on
healthy products. Therefore we can assume that;

H6: Disease Phobia is positive relationship with compulsive buying behaviour

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 8. Bodily Preoccupation

Bodily disorder is also called dysmorphophobia. Bodily disorder is a mental disorder

characterized by the obsessive idea that some factor of one's own frame component or look is
severely improper and consequently warrants wonderful measures to cover or restore it. In
Bodily disorder the patient feels a flaw in itself and tries to rethink its flaw that remains imagined
in its head. The flaw remains exaggerated and feels as it appears to others which may affect to
dislike him. This type of disorder patient tries to stay away from others as it might feel guilt of
their physical body disorder, which in reality is just a perception or disorder. Patients with body
disorder often have poor insight and fail to see their view of themselves as distorted [18]
(Swinson, Antony, Rachman & Ritcher, 2020). The Bodily disorder has a negative effect on the
compulsive buying behaviour because the person avoids social meetings and group sittings,
causing him to stay away from buying behaviour. Therefore we can assume that;

H7: Bodily Preoccupation is negative relationship with compulsive buying behaviour

9. Treatment Experience

Experience-based treatments introduce methodologic complexities compared to treatments that

are expected to change the physical substrate passively, i.e., regardless of the behavior of the
participant. For example, medications, surgeries and the application of certain devices may be
considered passive treatments. An experimental experience-based treatment means specifying
such matters as: who will do it: i.e., treater characteristics such as training and experience; also,
how treaters will be allocated across conditions, what will be done: the specific activities and
interactions contained in the treatment, how and when it will be done: how often, for how long,
at what schedule (intensity, duration and dose), To what it will be compared to estimate treatment
effects: the control condition(s) [19] (Hart, 2020). Although the causes of CBD are unknown, it
primarily appears in developed economies, which expose people to abundant consumer goods,
easy credit, pervasive advertising, and sophisticated marketing. Materialistic consumer culture
values (i.e., the idea that material goods indicate success and bring happiness), may also be a
contributing cause. Psychological causes undoubtedly vary across individuals. Many experts
believe that CBD is an attempt to escape low self-esteem and negative emotions. Others suggest
that compulsive buyers are avoiding important life issues, seeking to nurture themselves, or
trying to project an image of wealth and power.CBD is common. A nationwide, random-sample
survey of 2,413 adults in the USA, using a validated questionnaire, found that it seemed present
in almost 6 % of the population (6 % of women, 5.5 % of men). A similar German study found a
prevalence of 6.9 %, equal in men and in women. No treatment for CBD has been established as
effective, but the literature and our clinical experience indicate that CBD can be overcome.
Promising results have been reported from small studies of forms of CBT. In addition,

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antidepressant drugs that affect the brain’s serotonin system have helped some individuals.
Medications affecting other neurochemical systems are under study [20] (Koran & Aboujaoude,
2014). Therefore we can assume that;

H8: Treatment Experience has a negative relationship with compulsive buying behaviour

10. Effects of Symptoms

According to Ruth Engs from Indiana University, some people develop shopping addictions
because they essentially get addicted to how their brain feels while shopping. As they shop, their
brain releases endorphins and dopamine, and over time, these feelings become addictive. A
professor in applied health sciences, Engs claims that 10 to 15 percent of the population may be
predisposed to these feelings. Like all addicts, shopping addicts may try to hide their addiction,
and if a loved one is addicted to shopping, they may try to hide it from you. If you hide credit
card bills, shopping bags or receipts, you may be a shopaholic. In some cases, shopaholics may
try to hide their addiction by lying about just one element of it. For instance, a person may admit
they went shopping, but they may lie about how much they spent. Although most addictions
have physical symptoms related to them, shopping addictions may not. In most cases, the
symptoms you experience due to your shopping addiction will be emotional in nature. The
physical evidence of a shopping addiction may include a declining financial situation. The
short-term effects of a shopping addiction may feel positive. In many cases, you may feel happy
after completing a shopping trip. However, these feelings are often mixed with anxiety or guilt,
and in most cases, the guilt or anxiety may propel you back to the store for even more shopping.
The long-term effects of a shopping addiction can vary in intensity and scope. Many shopping
addicts face financial problems, and they may become overwhelmed with debt. In some cases,
they may simply max out their credit cards, but in other cases, they may take out a second
mortgage on their home or charge purchases to their business credit card. If you are addicted to
shopping, your personal relationships may also suffer. You may end up getting a divorce or
distancing yourself from your parents, children or other loved ones [21] (Engs, 2020).
Compulsive buying can result in substantial debts, legal problems, personal distress, and marital
conflict. Empirical research demonstrates that compulsive buying has psychiatric comorbidity
with depression, impulse control disorders, eating disorders, alcohol dependence, nicotine
dependence, and anxiety. Psychobiological, pharmacological, and physiological studies on
compulsive buying are needed since most studies are based on self-report methods (surveys,
interviews, etc.). Few controlled studies have assessed the effects of pharmacological treatment
on compulsive buying and there is no evidence that pharmacological treatment of compulsive
buying is effective. [22] (Weinstein, Maraz, Griffiths, Lejoyeux & Demetrovics, 2016).
Therefore we can assume that;

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H9: Effects of Symptoms has a negative relationship with compulsive buying behaviour

11. Information Overload

Information overload is when a person takes in more details than they're able to process at any
given time. In short, the piggy bank is full, but we keep trying to cram more money in the slot.
Our brains are only equipped to process so much information at once, and we are exposed daily
to far more than we can sort through [23] (Information Overload: Definition & Example, 2017).
People surfing the Internet are faced with an onslaught of messages from multiple sources, which
can overwhelm receivers. In contrast to previous studies, which have used ‘choice overload’ to
represent the amount of information provided to consumers, this study used ‘information
overload’ theory to represent the abundance of information received by consumers in online
shopping environments. Borrowing from the concepts of the communication model, this study
investigated the antecedents of perceived information overload, including information
characteristics (message), the information source, the system interface (channel) and recipients’
motivation (receiver). A total of 15 adults with more than 3 years of online shopping experience
participated in a focus group discussion. By integrating focus group results and the results of
previous studies into a theoretical framework, this study developed and empirically tested a
structural equation model of online information overload among 456 PChome customers. The
results indicated that the complexity and ambiguity of information characteristics, number of
brand alternatives offered by the information source and system interface all positively affect
consumers’ perceived information overload. Furthermore, information recipients’ motivation not
only negatively affected consumers’ perceived information overload but also moderated the
relationship between the number of brand alternatives and consumers’ perceived information
overload [24] (Li, 2016). Therefore we can assume that;

H10: Information Overload has a negative relationship with compulsive buying behaviour

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 Figure 1: Research Model

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Chapter 3

Research Methodology

This research study is based on a quantitative approach as it was easy to adopt and quantify the
research through questionnaires and for the collection of data which can cover relatively most of
the universities in Islamabad.

Instruments and Measures

Survey based research will be conducted through questionnaire online using google form tool
and targeted audience for this survey will be the Air university and Bahira university
respondents. Sample cluster is Islamabad universities which includes Air university and Bahira
university. Our sample size was 42 and targets were undergraduate, bachelors, masters and PhD.

The questionnaire items and variables will be adopted from survey and after testing through
SPSS software for checking their descriptive, reliability, correlation and regression.

The questionnaire will be based on Likert scale because with the help of this scale, respondents
have quite wide options for attempting the facets and are quite authentic for data validity.

Procedure

For this study questionnaire was distributed online on google form and all the All students
responded to the questionnaire, the students were asked specific questions about concern about
disease. The illness attitude scales (IAS) (Kelner,1986) purport to measure psychopathology
associated with hypochondriasis and abnormal illness behavior, the IAS consists of 8 scales
consisting of three questions each, through Likert 5-point scale from strongly disagree to
strongly agree. The scale are as follows: W (Worry about Illness), CP (Concern About pain), HH
(Health Habits), HB (Hypochondriacal Beliefs), TH (Thanatophobia), DP (Disease Phobia), BP
(Bodily Preoccupation), TE (Treatment Experience).

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Chapter 4

Questionnaire

Please provide the following information about yourself.

1. Gender:

1) Male 2) Female

2. Age:

1) Below 15 2) 15-25 3)25-35 4) 35-45 5) 45 above

3. Marital Status:

1) Single 2) Married 3) Divorced

4. Education:

1). Undergraduate 2). Graduate 3). Master 4). Ph.D

Please answer all questions which answer the other few questions with a few words or sentences.
Do not think long before answering. Work quickly!

Worry about illness

1. I am worried about my health

2. I am worried that I may get a serious illness in the future

3. The thought of a serious illness scare me

Concern about pain

4. If I have a pain, I worry that it may be caused by a serious illness

5. If a pain lasts for a week or more, I see a physician

6. If a pain lasts a week or more, I believe that I have a serious illness

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Health habits

7. I avoid habits that may be harmful to me such as smoking.

8. I avoid foods that may not be healthy.

9. I examine my body to find whether there is something wrong.

Hypochondriacal beliefs

10. I believe that I may have a physical disease, but the doctors have not diagnosed it
correctly

11. When my doctor tells me that I have no physical disease, I refuse to believe him

12. When I have been told by a doctor what he found, I soon begin to believe that I may
have developed a new illness

Thanatophobia

13. Am I afraid of news that reminds me of death (such as funerals, obituary notices)

14. The thought of death scare me

15. Am I afraid that I may die soon

Disease phobia

16. Am I afraid that I may have a cancer

17. Am I afraid that I may have a heart disease

18. Am I afraid that I may have a another serious illness

Which illness?

Bodily preoccupation

19. When I read or hear about an illness, I get symptoms similar to those of the illness

20. When I notice a sensation in my body, I find it difficult to think of something else

21. When I feel a sensation in my body, I worry about it

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Treatment experience

22. I see a doctor

❖ Almost never Only

❖ very rarely
❖ About 4 times a year
❖ About once a month
❖ About once a week

23. I have seen different doctors, chiropractors, or other healers in the past year

1) None 2) 1, 2 or 3 3) 4 or 5 4) 6 or more

24. I been treated during the past year (For example, drugs, change of drugs, surgery, etc.)

1) Not at all 2) 1, 2 or 3 times 3) 4 or 5 times 4) 6 or more times

Effects of symptoms

25. My bodily symptoms stop me from working.

26. My bodily symptoms stop me from concentrating on what am I doing

27. My bodily symptoms stop me from enjoying myself

Information overload:

1. I was pleased with my purchase.

2. I am happy with my choice.

3. I am sure made the best choice.

4. The other options were certainly worse than the one I chose.

5. Having the opportunity, I would by the same product again.

6. I felt confused before choosing which product I should buy.

7. I am unsure, I may not have purchased the best option.

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8. Some of the brands not chosen could have been a better choice.

9. Would have liked more time to think before buying.

10. I would have liked more information to make a better purchase.

11. If I had more information, I would be able to make a better choice among the
options.

12. I believe that more information would cause more confusion in my choice.

13. I was not able to decide due to lack of information.

14. There was little information available at the time of purchase.

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Result and Analysis

Descriptive Analysis of Demographic Variables

This part provides analysis of demographic variables (i.e. gender, age, education and marital
status. Summary of descriptive results of demographic variables is provided in Table 4.1.

42 complete questionnaires were included in the study which is filled by respondents. Out of
these 42 respondents, 17 (40.5%) respondents were males and remaining 24 (57.1%) were
females.

On the basis of age, respondents were categorized in 2 parts. Out of 42 respondents 41 (97.6%)
lies between 15-25, and 1 (2.4%) lies between 25-35 years category.

Respondents were also inquired about their education level, 7 (16.7%) respondents lied in the
bachelor’s category, 5 (11.9%) respondents lied in the master’s category, 30 (71.4%) respondents
were from the undergraduate category.

Respondents were also inquired about their marital status, 2 (4.8%) respondents were married, 40
(95.2%) respondents were single.

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Table 4.1 (a)

Gender w.r.t sample size N=42

Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid Female 24 57.1 57.1 57.1
Male 17 40.5 40.5 97.6
Prefer 2t to 1 2.4 2.4 100.0
say
Total 42 100.0 100.0

Table 4.1 (b)

Age w.r.t sample size N=42

Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid 15-25 41 97.6 97.6 97.6
25-35 1 2.4 2.4 100.0
Total 42 100.0 100.0

Table 4.1 ( c )

Marital Status w.r.t sample size N=42

Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid Married 2 4.8 4.8 4.8
Single 40 95.2 95.2 100.0
Total 42 100.0 100.0

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Table 4.1 (d)

Education w.r.t sample size N=42

Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid Bachelors 7 16.7 16.7 16.7
Masters 5 11.9 11.9 28.6
Undergraduate 30 71.4 71.4 100.0
Total 42 100.0 100.0

Descriptive Analysis of study Variables

Before moving towards descriptive of study variables, data as checked for extreme value and
missing value. No extreme and missing value was found in data. For purpose of descriptive of
study variables; mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis were calculated which are
shown in the Table 4.2 as follows;

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23
Above results demonstrate that minimum and maximum are in limit 1- 5. Mean of all variables
varies from 4.12 to 1.45 which exhibits that respondents are neutral. Skewness and kurtosis of all
variables displays good results in the range in the range of -2 to +2 which reveal that data is
normally distributed.

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Reliability Analysis

For assessing the reliability of study variable Cronbach test was employed. Summary of
reliability results is given in following Table 4.3.

Reliability No. of items

W .681 3
CP .736 3
HH .673 3
HB .665 3
TH .781 3
DP .784 3
BP .673 3
TE .436 3
ES .830 3
IO .705 14
CBB .861 12

Correlation Analysis

Correlation analysis is employed to observe the relationships between all study variables.
Correlation results are given in Table 4.4. Results are displaying significant positive relationships
(p<0.05) between all study variables.

As you can see in the table below if your significance is less 0.005then your relationship is null
rejected. If it's above 0.480 or it is 0.5 then your relationship is strong and if your relationship is
less than 0.005then there is no relation, there is no hypothesis.

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26
Regression Analysis

Regression analysis is employed to find out the impact of one variable (i.e. independent variable)
on other variable (i.e. dependent variable) and also test their relationship among variables (i.e.
independent and dependent variables).

Table 4.5: Model Summary

Adjusted R Std. Error of
Model R R Square Square the Estimate
a
1 .547 .299 .072 .68010
a. Predictors: (Constant), MIO, MW, MDP, MTE, MHH,
MES, MTH, MCP, MHB, MBP

Table 4.6: ANOVA a

Sum of
Model Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 6.108 10 .611 1.320 .263b
Residual 14.339 31 .463
Total 20.446 41
a. Dependent Variable: MCBB
b. Predictors: (Constant), MIO, MW, MDP, MTE, MHH, MES, MTH, MCP,
MHB, MBP

In the above table we see that the significance is 0.263 which is not significant. The significance
level should be (0.00) or (0.005) then your relationship is accepted.

27
 Table 4.7: Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .957 1.289 .743 .463
MW .136 .164 .143 .830 .413
MCP .119 .142 .154 .839 .408
MHH -.247 .162 -.273 -1.525 .137
MHB .276 .191 .287 1.440 .160
MTH -.040 .134 -.056 -.301 .766
MDP .414 .236 .286 1.751 .090
MBP .159 .205 .168 .778 .442
MTE -.080 .235 -.061 -.342 .734
MES .160 .156 .187 1.027 .312
MIO -.068 .324 -.037 -.210 .835
a. Dependent Variable: MCBB

The above table shows the relationships between dependent variable and independent variables.

The Beta values of the table above show the relation between the dependent and the independent
variables.

The result from the table also shows the significant effect each independent variable has on the
dependent variable. The following independent variables although affect acceptance of
compulsive buying behavior but as compared to other variables there impact is insignificant
these include MW, MCP, MHB, MTH, MBP, MTE, MES, MIO. Whereas, two variables which
include MDP(.090), MHH (.137) have a significant effect.

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Chapter 5

Conclusion

From the research, it is concluded that Disease phobia is the factor which positively influences

compulsive buying behavior. As the current situation of COVID 19 People are getting worried,

frightened, scared of social distancing etc. The purchasing power has gone up to the mark and

there are some shortages of organic necessities, medicines, use of daily things etc. most of the

people now order online so that they can’t get affected by going out to the shops or grocery

stores. There is an uplift of prices in basic commodities because of the pandemic and people

developing more stress in their mind so from our study we have concluded many people are

having the disease phobia of COVID-19.

29
Recommendations

The main findings indicate that there are some areas of paramount significance from the impact
of COVID-19 ON psychological and personality trait factors. Following are some of the
recommendations in light of the findings of this study which would help the people who are
having disease phobia, in improving the problem of impact of COVID-19 on psychological and
personality trait factors.

1. Fear, worry, and stress are normal responses to perceived or real threats,
and sometimes once we are faced with uncertainty or the unknown. So it's normal and
understandable that folks are experiencing fear within the context of the COVID-19
pandemic.

2. Added to the fear of contracting the virus during a pandemic like COVID-19 are the

many changes to our daily lives as our movements are restricted in support of efforts to
contain and hamper the spread of the virus. Faced with new realities of performing
from home, temporary unemployment, home-schooling of youngsters , and lack of
physical contact with other relations , friends and colleagues, it's important that we look
after our mental, also as our physical, health.

3. WHO, alongside partners, is providing guidance and advice during the COVID-19

pandemic for doctors , managers of health facilities, people that are taking care
of children, older adults, people in isolation and members of the general public more
generally, to assist us take care of our psychological state .

30
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