Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Aug 15;17(16):5928.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17165928.

Tendency to Worry and Fear of Mental Health during Italy's COVID-19 Lockdown

Chiara Baiano  1 , Isa Zappullo  1 , The LabNPEE Group  1 , Massimiliano Conson  1
Affiliations

Tendency to Worry and Fear of Mental Health during Italy's COVID-19 Lockdown

Chiara Baiano et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: We tested whether the tendency to worry could affect psychological responses to quarantine by capitalizing on the opportunity of having collected data before the COVID-19 outbreak on measures of worry, anxiety, and trait mindfulness in a group of university students.

Methods: Twenty-five participants completed self-report measures assessing worry (Penn State Worry Questionnaire, PSWQ), anxiety (Anxiety Sensitivity Index, ASI-3), and trait mindfulness (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, MAAS) at T0 (pre-lockdown, 4 November 2019-17 February 2020) and T1 (at the end of lockdown, 26 April-30 April 2020). We compared assessments at the two time points in the whole sample and in high and low worriers (defined at T0 by scores on PSWQ respectively above and below 1.5 SD from mean of the Italian normative sample).

Outcomes: High worriers showed at T1 a significant increase of anxiety sensitivity and fear of mental health in comparison to low worriers. Moreover, in the whole sample, at T1 trait mindfulness was inversely related to worry and fear of mental health.

Interpretation: A valuable approach to support individuals experiencing anxiety related to the COVID-19 outbreak could be represented by mindfulness-based interventions improving the ability to focus attention and awareness on the present moment.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; mental health; mindfulness; threat; worry.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. World Health Organization . Emergencies: Novel Coronavirus 2019. WHO; Geneva, Switzerland: 2020.
    1. Signorelli C., Scognamiglio T., Odone A. COVID-19 in Italy: Impact of containment measures and prevalence estimates of infection in the general population. Acta Biomed. 2020;10:175–179. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cao W., Fang Z., Hou G., Han M., Xu X., Dong J., Zheng J. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry Res. 2020;287:112934. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Somma A., Gialdi G., Krueger R.F., Markon K.E., Frau C., Lovallo S., Fossati A. Dysfunctional personality features, non-scientifically supported causal beliefs, and emotional problems during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Pers. Individ. Diff. 2020;15:110139. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.110139. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brooks S.K., Webster R.K., Smith L.E., Woodland L., Wessely S., Greenberg N., Rubin G.J. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. Lancet. 2020;395:912–920. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms