Isolated and blocked adolescents: a study on the psychological effects of the COVID-19 outbreak

BACKGROUND: According to the most updated data children and adolescents are less affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection, but they may be among the most exposed to the psychosocial consequences of the pandemic. We investigated the immediate psychological consequences of the Covid-19 outbreak in a sample of Italian adolescents. METHODS: An online survey was administered to 204 adolescents during the country's nationwide lockdown. It was composed of a socio-demographic interview focused on how teenagers were experiencing the health emergency (e.g. sport practiced, school distance learning, media exposure), and questionnaires on pathological worry, impact of events, metacognitions, state and trait anxiety, and affectivity. RESULTS: Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that specific individual dispositions and lifestyles during the emergency period predicted particular cognitive and emotional experiences of adolescents. Sport was directly related to positive affect, while media exposure was inversely related. Online learning was positively related to adolescents’ state anxiety, while fear of being infected was positively related to state anxiety, excessive worry and post-traumatic stress. Moreover, the comparison with a control group of adolescents tested in a period free from any health emergency showed that the current sample had higher worry, state anxiety, negative affect, and reduced positive affect. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the pandemic and the containment measures have significantly affected adolescents’ mental health. Lifestyles during the health emergency showed to have a predictive value on the cognitive and emotional experience of adolescents, therefore they must be seriously taken into consideration to counteract the effects of the pandemic.