How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Impacted Daily Life? Assessing the Use of Web Resources for Recreational Activities in the Italian Adult Population

Francesca Gallè (), Elita Anna Sabella, Lavinia Bianco, Mario Maninchedda, Benedetta Barchielli, Fabrizio Liguori, Giovanna Da Molin, Giorgio Liguori, Giovanni Battista Orsi, Stefano Ferracuti and Christian Napoli
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Francesca Gallè: Department of Movement Sciences and Wellbeing, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Via Medina 40, 80133 Naples, Italy
Elita Anna Sabella: Inter-University Research Centre “Population, Environment and Health”, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Cesare Battisti 1, 70121 Bari, Italy
Lavinia Bianco: Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Mario Maninchedda: Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Benedetta Barchielli: Department of Dynamic, Clinical Psychology and Health, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Via degli Apuli 1, 00185 Rome, Italy
Fabrizio Liguori: Department of Economics and Legal Studies, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Via Generale Parisi 13, 80132 Naples, Italy
Giovanna Da Molin: Inter-University Research Centre “Population, Environment and Health”, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Cesare Battisti 1, 70121 Bari, Italy
Giorgio Liguori: Department of Movement Sciences and Wellbeing, University of Naples “Parthenope”, Via Medina 40, 80133 Naples, Italy
Giovanni Battista Orsi: Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Stefano Ferracuti: Department of Human Neuroscience, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Christian Napoli: Department of Medical Surgical Sciences and Translational Medicine, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Via di Grottarossa 1035/1039, 00189 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: Restriction measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in people’s lives and behaviors. The aim of this paper is to assess the changes occurred in physical activity (PA), sleep, social and cultural activities and personal relationships of Italian adults during the pandemic and to evaluate the use of web-based resources to continue these activities. To this purpose, a cross-sectional study using a web-based questionnaire was carried out and both descriptive and regression analysis was performed. On a total of 1831 participants (61% females, age 18–93 years), the majority reported a decrease in PA, sleep, social and cultural activities and personal relationships, since the beginning of the pandemic. Sleep was notably affected by the use of new technologies. The regression analysis demonstrated that the use of web-based media for doing exercise was associated with being younger than 50 years and female; having a chronic condition was inversely related with the use of web resources for social and cultural activities and to maintain relationships; being employed was negatively related with the use of web media for continuing personal relationships and cultural activities; and being vaccinated against COVID-19 was positively associated with the use of the web for personal relationships. These findings confirm that the COVID-19 pandemic notably affected the daily life of Italian adults. Our results suggest that the use of technology to deal with these changes seems to be related with certain sociodemographic and health-related characteristics. These findings can be useful to identify those characteristics that can help people in copying with daily life modifications due to restriction measures.

Keywords: COVID-19; recreational activity; lifestyle; social media; information technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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