The goal of the present study was to explore COVID-19 related hesitancy, which represents the inability of people to return to previous levels of functioning after a major medical crisis like the current pandemic. A new questionnaire was developed to evaluate participants’ hesitancy. The study was conducted online in November, 2020, using convenience sampling. A total of 538 individuals from the general Greek population participated in the study and completed the Hesitancy Questionnaire, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 2-item (GAD-2), the Short Health Anxiety Inventory and a COVID-19-related worry question. The Hesitancy Questionnaire proved to have adequate psychometric properties. Correlation with anxiety as assessed by GAD-2 proved to be significant but low, indicating that the two scales are measuring two different concepts. The greatest hesitancy was observed in older adults for both genders (males, M = 40.86, SD = 15.24; females, M = 49.34, SD = 14.74). Women in general appeared more hesitant than men scoring higher (males, M = 36.13, SD = 15.25; females, M = 42.63, SD = 17.31) with a statistically significant difference [t(536) = − 3.706, p = .001). This study provided a tool to informed understanding on how citizens perceive the new normality after the COVID-19 pandemic. If not appropriately addressed, hesitancy may increase stress levels and result in mental health or socialization problems.

本研究的目的是探索与 COVID-19 相关的犹豫，这代表人们在像当前大流行这样的重大医疗危机之后无法恢复到以前的功能水平。开发了一个新的问卷来评估参与者的犹豫。该研究于 2020 年 11 月使用便利抽样在线进行。共有 538 名希腊普通民众参与了这项研究，并完成了犹豫问卷、广泛性焦虑症 2 项 (GAD-2)、短期健康焦虑量表和与 COVID-19 相关的担忧问题。犹豫问卷被证明具有足够的心理测量特性。GAD-2 评估的与焦虑的相关性被证明是显着但很低的，这表明这两个量表正在衡量两个不同的概念。M  = 40.86，SD  = 15.24；女性，M  = 49.34，SD  = 14.74）。一般来说，女性比得分更高的男性更犹豫（男性，M  = 36.13，SD  = 15.25；女性，M  = 42.63，SD  = 17.31），具有统计学显着差异 [ t (536) = − 3.706，p  = .001） . 这项研究提供了一种工具，可以让人们了解公民如何看待 COVID-19 大流行后的新常态。如果处理不当，犹豫可能会增加压力水平并导致心理健康或社交问题。