IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i3p330-d1355467.html

Impact of Stress during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: A Study on Dispositional and Behavioral Dimensions for Supporting Evidence-Based Targeted Strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Giuseppe Alessio Platania

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Simone Varrasi

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Claudia Savia Guerrera

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Francesco Maria Boccaccio

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy)

  • Vittoria Torre

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy)

  • Venera Francesca Vezzosi

    (Unità Operativa Complessa di Neuropsichiatria Infantile, Presidio Ospedaliero di Acireale, ASP 3 Catania, 95024 Acireale, Italy)

  • Concetta Pirrone

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
    These authors also contributed equally to this work.)

  • Sabrina Castellano

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Catania, 95124 Catania, Italy
    These authors also contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused critical mental health issues and lifestyle disruptions. The aim of this study was to explore, during the lockdown of second-wave contagions in Italy, how stress was affected by dispositional (personality factors and intolerance to uncertainty) and behavioral (coping strategies) dimensions, how these variables differed among sex, age, educational, professional, and health groups, and how the various changes in work and daily routine intervened in the psychological impact of the emergency. Our results highlight that women, the youngs, students/trainees, those with chronic diseases, those who stopped their jobs due to restrictions, and those who left home less than twice a week were more stressed, while health professionals showed lower levels of the same construct. Those with higher levels of stress used more coping strategies based on avoidance, which positively correlated with age, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and intolerance to uncertainty, and negatively with openness. Stress levels also positively correlated with agreeableness, conscientiousness, intolerance to uncertainty, and seeking of social support, and negatively with openness, a positive attitude, and a transcendent orientation. Finally, stress was predicted mainly by behavioral dimensions. Our results are discussed and framed within the literature, as important insights for targeted intervention strategies to promote health even in emergencies.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppe Alessio Platania & Simone Varrasi & Claudia Savia Guerrera & Francesco Maria Boccaccio & Vittoria Torre & Venera Francesca Vezzosi & Concetta Pirrone & Sabrina Castellano, 2024. "Impact of Stress during COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: A Study on Dispositional and Behavioral Dimensions for Supporting Evidence-Based Targeted Strategies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(3), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:3:p:330-:d:1355467
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/3/330/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/3/330/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Netta Achdut & Tehila Refaeli, 2020. "Unemployment and Psychological Distress among Young People during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Psychological Resources and Risk Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-21, September.
    2. Marinella Coco & Claudia Savia Guerrera & Giuseppe Santisi & Febronia Riggio & Roberta Grasso & Donatella Di Corrado & Santo Di Nuovo & Tiziana Ramaci, 2021. "Psychosocial Impact and Role of Resilience on Healthcare Workers during COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-9, June.
    3. Ann Pearman & MacKenzie L Hughes & Emily L Smith & Shevaun D Neupert & Amy Fiske, 2021. "Age Differences in Risk and Resilience Factors in COVID-19-Related Stress," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 76(2), pages 38-44.
    4. Esteban Correa-Agudelo & Tesfaye B. Mersha & Adam J. Branscum & Neil J. MacKinnon & Diego F. Cuadros, 2021. "Identification of Vulnerable Populations and Areas at Higher Risk of COVID-19-Related Mortality during the Early Stage of the Epidemic in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-13, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lulu Yuan & Xue Wang & Meizhen Zhao & Chaowei Guo & Shuang Zang, 2024. "Unveiling a Positive Association Between Subjective Socioeconomic Status and Government Work Evaluation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 171(3), pages 1043-1064, February.
    2. Peter Congdon, 2021. "COVID-19 Mortality in English Neighborhoods: The Relative Role of Socioeconomic and Environmental Factors," J, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Line I. Berge & Marie H. Gedde & Bettina S. Husebo & Ane Erdal & Camilla Kjellstadli & Ipsit V. Vahia, 2021. "Age and Emotional Distress during COVID-19: Findings from Two Waves of the Norwegian Citizen Panel," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-14, September.
    4. Palmer, Ashley N. & Patel, Mansi & Sledge, Shellye L. & Kitchens, Katherine & Cassano, Kaiden, 2023. "COVID-19 impacts on youth and young adult workforce development programs: A local perspective," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    5. Udomsak Narkkul & Jun Jiet Ng & Apisith Saraluck, 2022. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Female Sexual Function Index and Female Behavioral Changes: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study in Thailand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-13, November.
    6. Ali Osman Uymaz & Serdar Arslan & Nuri Celiker & Sergen Gursoy, 2025. "Analysing the Impact of the COVID‐19 Pandemic on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) From the Perspective of Decent Work: A Comparison of the Pre‐ and Post‐COVID‐19 Periods," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(6), pages 1267-1294, August.
    7. Elena Caroline Weitzel & Heide Glaesmer & Andreas Hinz & Samira Zeynalova & Sylvia Henger & Christoph Engel & Markus Löffler & Nigar Reyes & Kerstin Wirkner & A. Veronica Witte & Arno Villringer & Ste, 2022. "What Builds Resilience? Sociodemographic and Social Correlates in the Population-Based LIFE-Adult-Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-11, August.
    8. Yolanda Marcén-Román & Angel Gasch-Gallen & Irene Isabel Vela Martín de la Mota & Estela Calatayud & Isabel Gómez-Soria & Beatriz Rodríguez-Roca, 2021. "Stress Perceived by University Health Sciences Students, 1 Year after COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-10, May.
    9. Steven Sek-yum Ngai & Chau-kiu Cheung & Yuen-hang Ng & Qiushi Zhou & Chen Chen & Xingxing Wang & Hiu-lam Ngai & Chenlian Zhang & Cong Fu & Yunjun Li, 2025. "Investigating Developmental Outcomes in School-to-Work Transitions for Youth with Chronic Disabling Health Conditions: A Social Capital Perspective Using Unconditional Quantile Regression Analysis," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 20(6), pages 2255-2298, December.
    10. Lewańczyk, Agata Marta & Langham-Walsh, Eleanor & Edwards, Lisa & Branney, Peter & Walters, Elizabeth R. & Mitchell, Paul & Vaportzis, Eleftheria, 2023. "Back Onside protocol: A physical activity intervention to improve health outcomes in people who are unemployed or at risk of unemployment," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Manon Duay & Margot Morgiève & Hélène Niculita-Hirzel, 2021. "Sudden Changes and Their Associations with Quality of Life during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Cross-Sectional Study in the French-Speaking Part of Switzerland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-17, May.
    12. Carmen María Sarabia-Cobo & Aroa Delgado Uria & Marta García Lecue & Eva Izaguirre Palazuelos & César Martínez Ruiz & Ángela Fernández-Rodríguez, 2021. "Predictive Model of Preventive Behaviors against COVID-19 in the Older Adult: The PREASOC-COVID-19 Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-12, October.
    13. Canan Oyku Donmez Kara & Ilknur Karaaslan, 2022. "Covid-19 Pandemisinin Universite Ogrencilerinin Issizlik Kaygisi Uzerine Etkileri," Journal of Social Policy Conferences, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(82), pages 155-194, June.
    14. Seulkee Heo & Miraj U. Desai & Sarah R. Lowe & Michelle L. Bell, 2021. "Impact of Changed Use of Greenspace during COVID-19 Pandemic on Depression and Anxiety," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-18, May.
    15. Shaher H. Zyoud, 2023. "Analyzing and visualizing global research trends on COVID-19 linked to sustainable development goals," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(6), pages 5459-5493, June.
    16. Ryemi Do & Kwan-Young Bak & Seung Yeon Lee & Myoungjee Jung & Seoyeon Kim & Deok Hyun Jang & Yookyung Eoh & Won Mo Jang, 2025. "Comparison of Multi-Risk Perceptions and Sociodemographic Characteristics in South Korea: Cognitive and Affective Dimensions," SAGE Open, , vol. 15(1), pages 21582440251, March.
    17. Xuanxian Chen & Massoomeh Hedayati Marzbali & Aldrin Abdullah, 2024. "Urban Parks and Office Workers’ Health: Considering the Influence of Marital Status and Different Qualities of Urban Parks," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, September.
    18. Inês Mendonça & Franz Coelho & Paulo Ferrajão & Ana Maria Abreu, 2022. "Telework and Mental Health during COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-23, February.
    19. Gayan Perera & KTDDP Jayapala & Mizanur Khondoker & Karen Glaser & Giorgio Di Gessa & Robert Stewart, 2025. "Associations of non-employment with common mental disorder subcomponents among working age population: Analysis of national data from 1993, 2000, 2007 and 2014," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 71(2), pages 404-413, March.
    20. Marisa R. Eastman & Jessica M. Finlay & Lindsay C. Kobayashi, 2021. "Alcohol Use and Mental Health among Older American Adults during the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-13, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:3:p:330-:d:1355467. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.