Flourishing or Languishing? Predictors of Positive Mental Health in Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Carmen Concerto, Alessandro Rodolico, Valentina Lucia La Rosa (), Barbara Aiello, Miriam Martinez, Sebastiano Stuto, Carmenrita Infortuna, Laura Fusar-Poli, Maria Salvina Signorelli, Elena Commodari, Fortunato Battaglia and Eugenio Aguglia
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Carmen Concerto: Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Alessandro Rodolico: Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Valentina Lucia La Rosa: Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
Barbara Aiello: Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Miriam Martinez: Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Sebastiano Stuto: Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Carmenrita Infortuna: Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences, Morphological and Functional Images, University of Messina, 98121 Messina, Italy
Laura Fusar-Poli: Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Maria Salvina Signorelli: Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy
Elena Commodari: Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
Fortunato Battaglia: Department of Medical Sciences, Neurology, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, Nutley, NJ 07110, USA
Eugenio Aguglia: Psychiatry Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Catania, 95123 Catania, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 23, 1-11

Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical students were burdened with high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. The objective of the present study was to investigate predictors of positive mental health among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted an online survey from September 2021 to March 2022. We applied the snowball recruitment technique involving medical students from the University of Catania, Italy. We administered, anonymously, a questionnaire about demographic characteristics, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A), and the short form of the Mental Health Continuum (MHC-SF). Participants showed moderate anxiety, depression, and stress levels, and more than half had positive mental health status overall. This finding was inversely related to age, depression severity, cyclothymic, and depressive temperaments. Our results showed that medical students with depressive and cyclothymic temperaments were more at risk of worsening mental health status during the pandemic. Our findings may allow for further developments about the impact of personological characteristics on students’ mental health to enable more efficient support for the most vulnerable.

Keywords: flourishing; languishing; positive mental health; medical students; depression; stress; anxiety; temperament; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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