Abstract

Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a condition in which a person is worried excessively over little things. Adolescents who experienced Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are more prone to GAD. Thereby, the study aimed to study the prevalence of GAD among Saudi youth during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia, and to identify the variables related to COVID-19 that could predict anxiety among youth.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out among the general youth in different regions of Saudi Arabia from April to October 2020. A pretested questionnaire was used for data collection. A convenient non-probability sampling technique was employed to collect the data from the participants.
Result: Out of total 480 participants, 78.3% were male and 21.7% were female. The study included 351 (73.1%) Saudi nationals. Regarding the prevalence of GAD, 53 (11%) had mild GAD symptoms, 268 (55.8%) had moderate, and 39 (8.1%) had extremely severe GAD symptoms. A statistically significant association was found among anxiety, age, and history of diagnosis or exposure to COVID-19.
Conclusion: More than half the youth in this study had shown symptoms of GAD. Anxiety was associated with age and whether the participant had been diagnosed with or exposed to COVID-19.

Key words: COVID-19, youth, generalized anxiety disorder, prevalence, Saudi Arabia