{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T04:32:41Z","timestamp":1784608361800,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"JMIR Publications Inc.","issue":"9","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Med Internet Res"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Evidence from past pandemics suggests that fear, uncertainty, and loss of control during large-scale public health crises may lead to increased pandemic-related information seeking, particularly among persons predisposed to high anxiety. In such groups, a greater consumption of information pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic may increase anxiety.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this study, we examine the association between online activity and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) scores in the United States.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We recruited participants for an online survey through advertisements on various platforms such as Google, Facebook, and Reddit. A total of 406 adult US participants with moderate to severe (\u226510) GAD-7 scores met the inclusion criteria and completed the survey. Anxiety levels measured using the GAD-7 scale formed our primary outcome. Our key independent variables were average daily time spent online and average daily time spent online searching about COVID-19 within the past 14 days. We used as controls potential confounders of the relation between our key independent variables and GAD-7 scores, namely, sleep quality, the COVID-19 Fear Inventory scale, binge drinking, substance use, prescription drug abuse, and sociodemographic attributes.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Linear multivariate regression analyses showed that GAD-7 scores were higher among those who spent &gt;4 hours online (per day) searching for information about COVID-19 (coefficient 1.29, P=.002), controlling for all other covariates. The total time spent online was not statistically associated with GAD-7 scores.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Results from this study indicate that limiting pandemic-related online information seeking may aid anxiety management in our study population.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.2196\/21490","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,8,21]],"date-time":"2020-08-21T15:27:07Z","timestamp":1598023627000},"page":"e21490","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":33,"title":["Association Between Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scores and Online Activity Among US Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Analysis"],"prefix":"10.2196","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3800-2808","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Parvati","family":"Singh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0971-8348","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"William G","family":"Cumberland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3984-7324","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dominic","family":"Ugarte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6927-964X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tim-Allen","family":"Bruckner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6052-4875","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sean D","family":"Young","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1010","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2020.5460"},{"key":"ref2","unstructured":"News release: unemployment insurance weekly claimsUS Department of Labor202008272020-09-02Washington, D.C. 20210U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administrationhttps:\/\/www.dol.gov\/ui\/data.pdf"},{"key":"ref3","unstructured":"Coronavirus: Congress passes $484bn economic relief billBBC News202004242020-09-02https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-52398980"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S2215-0366(20)30168-1"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jamainternmed.2020.1562"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12992-020-00589-w"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6932a1"},{"key":"ref8","author":"Taylor, S","year":"2019","journal-title":"The Psychology of Pandemics: Preparing for the next Global Outbreak of Infectious Disease"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10810730.2012.727960"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0231924"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.psychres.2020.112954"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bbi.2020.04.083"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2196\/jmir.4.2.e13"},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17114065"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17103740"},{"key":"ref17","unstructured":"Table 702.60. Number and percentage of households with computer and internet access, by state: 2016National Center for Education Statistics20162020-09-02https:\/\/nces.ed.gov\/programs\/digest\/d17\/tables\/dt17_702.60.asp"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/archinte.166.10.1092"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"219","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4419-9893-4_50","author":"Shahid, A","year":"2011","journal-title":"STOP, THAT and One Hundred Other Sleep Scales"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10608-015-9701-9"},{"key":"ref21","unstructured":"Stata Statistical Software: Release 14StataCorp20152020-09-02https:\/\/www.stata.com\/company\/"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6932e1"},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2531602.2531677"}],"container-title":["Journal of Medical Internet Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.jmir.org\/2020\/9\/e21490","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T17:29:29Z","timestamp":1782840569000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.jmir.org\/2020\/9\/e21490\/"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,10]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2196\/21490","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.2196\/preprints.21490","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["1438-8871"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1438-8871","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,10]]}}}