Mental health and its psychosocial predictors during national quarantine in Italy against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

ABSTRACT

Background and Objectives: This research aimed at investigating the psychological impact of national quarantine in Italy, and the psychosocial factors that are may influence this impact.

Methods: A convenience sample of 1569 people living in Italy responded to an online survey using virtual snowball sampling. The questionnaire included measures of mental health symptoms, well-being, worry about the epidemic of COVID-19, likelihood of infection, coping efficacy, trust in the institutional response to the epidemic of COVID-19, financial loss, perceived house size, and media exposure to COVID-19 outbreak.

Results: Gender (women), lower age, occupational status (employed), lower media exposure, higher worry, lower coping efficacy, lower trust in institutions, and negative attitudes toward quarantine measures predicted mental health symptoms. In addition, results showed that gender (men), higher age, socioeconomic status, occupational status (unemployed), higher coping efficacy and trust in institutions, and positive attitudes toward quarantine measures predicted well-being. The estimated prevalence of common mental disorders was 31.7% among men and 52.3% among women. The scores on well-being were significantly lower in the current study than in a previous validation study.

Conclusion: The results of the study provided both theory and practical implications in understanding mental health and its psychosocial predictors during national quarantine.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• mental health
• lockdown
• cross-sectional survey
• well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).