The Trap of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Italian Adolescents Fare Well at First, Maybe Thanks to Protective Trait Expression

Abstract

Abundant research indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has been negatively affecting mental health in adolescence. Few works, however, benefit from data from the same sample before and after the onset of the pandemic. The present longitudinal study involved a non-clinical group of 136 Italian adolescents (Mage = 16.3 years ± 1.08, 67% girls) to investigate their psychological response to the first lockdown and explore the role of a protective trait (i.e., Positivity) in moderating the effect of Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) on internalizing symptoms before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. Participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing psychopathological symptoms, psychological well-being, IU, and Positivity on three separate occasions: October 2019 (T1), January 2020 (T2), and April 2020 (T3). The results showed that internalizing and externalizing symptoms as well as psychological well-being did not vary significantly over time. Positivity was found to significantly moderate the relationship between IU and internalizing symptoms at T3 (i.e., during the COVID-19 lockdown) only. Overall, our findings suggest that the teenagers’ good adjustment to the initial phase of the pandemic might have been associated with the enhanced weight of the Positivity trait, which may have encouraged a positive attitude towards self, life, and the future.

What Is Next for Public Health after COVID-19 in Italy? Adopting a Youth-Centred Care Approach in Mental Health Services

“…Additional longitudinal studies about the impact of COVID-19 on adolescents and young adult Italian population suggest that the pandemic’s persistence over time may have had an impact on youth’s psychopathology, influencing the frequency, type, and complexity of mental health problems [ 7 , 8 ]. Furthermore, evidence revealed that the new generation of adolescents may express their discomfort through alternative-type symptoms rather than the expected “traditional” internalizing forms, including a higher problematic social media usage than peers before the pandemic [ 9 ].…”