Anxiety Severity, Perceived Risk of COVID-19 and Individual Functioning in Emerging Adults Facing the Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is showing a strong impact on people in terms of uncertainty and instability it has caused in different areas of daily life. Uncertainty and instability are also emotions that characterize emerging adulthood (EA). They generate worries about the present and the future and are a source of anxiety that impacts negatively on personal and interpersonal functioning. Anxiety seems a central effect of the pandemic and recent studies have suggested that it is linked to COVID-19 risk perception. In the present study, a sample of 1045 Italian emerging adults was collected: (1) to assess anxiety severity and perceived risk related to COVID-19 and their association and (2) to compare general health and protective factors such as attitudes about security, relationships, self-esteem, and self-efficacy across anxiety severity and perceived risk categories. The findings of this study highlighted that anxiety severity categories were distributed homogeneously across the sample and that half of the participants referred to moderate-severe anxiety. A series of analysis of variances and post hoc comparisons showed that general health and all protective factors decreased according to anxiety severity. They were higher in participants with high perceived risk, with the exception of self-efficacy. Given the challenging features of the pandemic and EA, it is crucial to monitor anxiety severity in order to prevent last longing effects on mental and physical health, as well as keeping emerging adults informed about the risks related to the pandemic. Intervention and supportive programs based on improving self-esteem and self-efficacy, as well as confidence in relationships, should be offered to emerging adults over the long term, beyond the current outbreak.

Different roles of interpersonal trust and institutional trust in COVID-19 pandemic control

“…In these regions, individuals who violate norms are seen as adhering to the cultural ideal of individualism for autonomy, which may enhance their status in society ( Kinias et al, 2014 ) and is less likely to cause moral outrage from others ( Stamkou et al, 2019 ). On the other hand, in regions where individualistic culture prevails, individuals are less aware of the connection between themselves and the collective, which is associated with a lower perceived risk of infectious diseases ( Germani et al, 2020 ). Accordingly, we observed that American participants but not Chinese participants in the high interpersonal trust group were less aware of the infection risk caused by others, and the positive effect of interpersonal trust on reducing unnecessary outdoor activities was affected by the decline in the perception of infection risk.…”

Binge Eating and Binge Drinking in Emerging Adults During COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy: An Examination of Protective and Risk Factors

“…During pandemic, emerging adults resulted to be extremely vulnerable to psychological distress and addictive behaviors (Germani et al, 2020; McPhee et al, 2021; Simone et al, 2021). Emerging adulthood is characterized by instability on different life domains, as youths are still exploring their adult identities (Arnett, 2000), but this instability was exacerbated by health-emergency, prompting psychological distress (Bartel et al, 2020; Germani et al, 2020; McPhee et al, 2021).…”

“…During pandemic, emerging adults resulted to be extremely vulnerable to psychological distress and addictive behaviors (Germani et al, 2020; McPhee et al, 2021; Simone et al, 2021). Emerging adulthood is characterized by instability on different life domains, as youths are still exploring their adult identities (Arnett, 2000), but this instability was exacerbated by health-emergency, prompting psychological distress (Bartel et al, 2020; Germani et al, 2020; McPhee et al, 2021). As regards the Italian context, pre-pandemic conditions of emerging adults were characterized by a widespread unemployment, so that most youths continued to live with their parents, or moved to large cities to find job, with consequent housing emergency (Crocetti et al, 2015; European Communities, 2015).…”

Impacto del confinamiento por COVID-19 en España y República Dominicana. Un estudio transcultural con jóvenes emergentes y adultos

“…Una posible explicación es que los AE se encuentran en una fase del desarrollo en el que perciben una mayor incertidumbre y ansiedad por el futuro, sería interesante valorar si esta población ya presentaba niveles más elevados de ansiedad y depresión previos a la pandemia. (Germani et al, 2020).…”