A Nationwide Survey of Psychological Distress among Italian People during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors

Cristina Mazza, Eleonora Ricci, Silvia Biondi, Marco Colasanti, Stefano Ferracuti, Christian Napoli and Paolo Roma
Additional contact information
Cristina Mazza: Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University “G.d’Annunzio”, 61100 Chieti-Pescara, Italy
Eleonora Ricci: Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Silvia Biondi: Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Marco Colasanti: Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Stefano Ferracuti: Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Christian Napoli: Department of Medical Surgical Science and Translational Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00189 Rome, Italy
Paolo Roma: Department of Human Neuroscience, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: The uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has called for unprecedented measures, to the extent that the Italian government has imposed a quarantine on the entire country. Quarantine has a huge impact and can cause considerable psychological strain. The present study aims to establish the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and identify risk and protective factors for psychological distress in the general population. An online survey was administered from 18–22 March 2020 to 2766 participants. Multivariate ordinal logistic regression models were constructed to examine the associations between sociodemographic variables; personality traits; depression, anxiety, and stress. Female gender, negative affect, and detachment were associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Having an acquaintance infected was associated with increased levels of both depression and stress, whereas a history of stressful situations and medical problems was associated with higher levels of depression and anxiety. Finally, those with a family member infected and young person who had to work outside their domicile presented higher levels of anxiety and stress, respectively. This epidemiological picture is an important benchmark for identifying persons at greater risk of suffering from psychological distress and the results are useful for tailoring psychological interventions targeting the post-traumatic nature of the distress.

Keywords: COVID-19; pandemic; quarantine; depression; anxiety; stress; mental health intervention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (144)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3165/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/9/3165/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:9:p:3165-:d:353229

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().