Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Napoli, Italy.
Neapolisanit s.r.l. Rehabilitation Center, 80044 Ottaviano, Italy.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 2;19(9):5532. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095532.
While the negative impact of COVID-19 total lockdown on mental health in youth has been extensively studied, findings collected during subsequent waves of the pandemic, in which restrictive rules were more eased, are very sparse. Here, we explore perceived psychological distress during the partial lockdown of the third wave in Southern Italy in a large sample of students, focusing on age and gender differences. Also, we assessed whether attending the type of education could have a protective role on students' psychological well-being. An online survey was completed by 1064 southern Italian students (age range: 8-19 years; males = 368) from March to July 2021. The survey consists of a set of questions regarding general sociodemographic information as well as several aspects of students' psychological well-being. Psychological distress was higher in high school students compared to both elementary and middle ones. In addition, we found gender differences, but only in high school students, with females reporting higher psychological distress than males. Finally, our mediation analysis showed a mediated role of face-to-face schooling in the relationship between age and psychological distress. In conclusion, this study highlights age-related differences in psychological distress during the pandemic and the protective role of school in presence for mental health in Italian students.
虽然 COVID-19 全面封锁对青少年心理健康的负面影响已经得到广泛研究，但在随后的疫情浪潮中，限制措施更为宽松时收集的发现却非常稀少。在这里，我们在意大利南部的第三次封锁浪潮期间，在大量学生中探讨了部分封锁期间的感知心理困扰，重点关注年龄和性别差异。此外，我们还评估了接受教育类型是否对学生的心理健康有保护作用。2021 年 3 月至 7 月，1064 名意大利南部学生（年龄范围：8-19 岁；男性=368 人）在线完成了一项调查。该调查包含一系列关于一般社会人口统计学信息以及学生心理健康的几个方面的问题。高中生的心理困扰高于小学生和初中生。此外，我们发现了性别差异，但仅在高中生中，女生的心理困扰高于男生。最后，我们的中介分析表明，面对面教育在年龄与心理困扰之间的关系中具有中介作用。总之，这项研究强调了在大流行期间心理困扰与年龄相关的差异，以及学校在保护意大利学生心理健康方面的作用。
