The impact of COVID‐19 lockdown on perceived stress: The role of defence mechanisms and coping strategies

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic represents a unique global challenge. To deter its spread, several countries have put lockdown and physical distancing measures in place that could have potentially harmful consequences on people's mental health. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the relationship between anxiety and perceived stress in individuals who were experiencing the COVID‐19 lockdown measures, while also analyzing the impact of coping strategies interacting with defence mechanisms. A sample of 1408 individuals ( M age = 34.69; SD = 11.87) completed the Ten Item Perceived Stress Scale, State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory—Form X3, Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced and Forty‐Item Defense Style Questionnaire, after providing written informed consent. Results highlighted the significant impact of state anxiety levels on perceived stress, both directly and indirectly. The indirect pathways have been explored by performing three mixed serial‐parallel mediation analyses, where significant associations between coping strategies (Social Support, Avoidance Strategies, Positive Attitude, Problem‐solving and Turning to Religion) and mature, neurotic, or immature defences have been found. These findings may contribute to orientate prevention and intervention activity during the several management phases of COVID‐19.

Digital Learning, Life Satisfaction, and Perceived Stress Due to COVID-19 Emergency: Case Study Among Female Saudi University Students

“…They explore different types of media use and they highlight the potential benefits of music listening on life satisfaction during COVID-19. Similarly, the study of Gori et al (2021) confirms the significant impact of state anxiety levels on perceived stress and shows that positive thinking, spirituality, and conviction can have a strong positive influence on the well-being of individuals.…”

“…Their results show that the majority of students surveyed exhibits symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and lower scores for satisfaction with life. In the same vein, Gori et al (2021) seek to explore the relationship between anxiety and perceived stress in individuals during confinement related to COVID-19 in Italy. The authors aim to further investigate and study the role of several variables contributing to subjective distress, with a particular focus on the impact of coping strategies and defense mechanisms in catalyzing or hindering the relationship between anxiety and perceived stress in individuals experiencing COVID-19 lock-in.…”

The Interplay Between Problematic Online Pornography Use, Psychological Stress, Emotion Dysregulation and Insomnia Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mediation Analysis

“…As for the relationship between investigated variables and age, in line with the literature, we found that younger age was significantly and positively associated with higher psychological stress 42 and emotion dysregulation. 50 Indeed, the pandemic had a significant influence on mental health 51 , 52 with particularly marked consequences for some subcategories of the population, including young adults. 53 Among young adults, in fact, an increase in both internalizing (eg, withdrawal, somatic complaints, anxiety, and depression) and externalizing (eg, aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors) problems were found.…”

The Protective Role of Mature Defense Mechanisms on Satisfaction with Life in the COVID-19 Era: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

“…Despite the limitations, this study also proposes novel aspects with valid practical implications. The exploration of the role of anxiety, post-traumatic impairment, mature defences, and their mutual interactions in influencing satisfaction with life offers important information that contributes to enriching the existing literature in this field [ 3 , 12 , 15 , 27 , 46 ]. Although the data were collected during the COVID-19 pandemic, they offer important application insights that can be useful both for emergency management and outside of it.…”

“…Indeed, among the dimensions influencing life satisfaction, anxiety is one of the most reported during the pandemic: Wang and colleagues [ 14 ] showed that about one-third of the participants in the general Chinese population declared moderate to severe anxiety without significant longitudinal changes in those levels. This, in turn, may lead to a series of cascade reactions that could negatively affect life satisfaction [ 4 , 14 ], as demonstrated by previous research indicating the association between anxiety and functional impairment, unhealthy coping strategies, hopelessness [ 15 , 16 ], and lower quality of life [ 17 ]. Therefore, based on the above empirical evidence, hypothesis 1 is developed as follows:…”