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. 2021 Jul 27;11(8):993.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci11080993.

"Stay at Home" in Italy during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Longitudinal Study on Individual Well-Being among Different Age Groups

Alessandro Quaglieri  1 , Giulia Lausi  1 , Angelo Fraschetti  1 , Jessica Burrai  1   2 , Benedetta Barchielli  2 , Alessandra Pizzo  1 , Pierluigi Cordellieri  1 , Luigi De Gennaro  1 , Maurizio Gorgoni  1 , Fabio Ferlazzo  1 , Stefano Sdoia  1 , Pierpaolo Zivi  1 , Anna Maria Giannini  1 , Emanuela Mari  1
Affiliations

"Stay at Home" in Italy during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Longitudinal Study on Individual Well-Being among Different Age Groups

Alessandro Quaglieri et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

The restrictions imposed by the Italian government because of the coronavirus outbreak have been shown to be demanding on the Italian population. Data were collected at four different time points from 29 March 2020 to 3 May 2020 and during the final follow-up survey on 12 October 2020. In the present study, we provided longitudinal evidence on the relationship between the lockdown and mental health dimensions, such as emotional state, perceived stress, and time perspective, for three age groups. The results allowed us to observe their psychological status from different perspectives at five different time points. Notably, a negative effect of the lockdown individual well-beings emerged as a trend, and differences in individual adaptation strategies to a prolonged stressful situation were observed at the follow-up. Indeed, pairwise comparisons between age groups showed that the young adult group (18-23 years old) seemed to be the most psychologically affected by the lockdown. The findings are discussed according to the most recent literature on the topic. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first longitudinal studies carried out in Italy concerning the general psychological effects of the coronavirus lockdown.

Keywords: coronavirus; emotional state; perceived stress; social distance; young adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of the survey dates and tests administered at each time point.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Main effect of session on the State Anxiety Inventory. Note: ** p < 0.01.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Main effect of session on the positive and negative affects schedule. Note: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, and *** p < 0.001.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Main effect of session on physical and verbal aggression. Note: * p < 0.05 and ** p < 0.01.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Interaction effect of the age group on the perceived stress scale. Note: * p < 0.05 and *** p < 0.001.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Main effect of session on the Subjective Units of Distress Scale. Note: * p < 0.05 and ** p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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