Dragone Mirella, Colella Alessandra, Esposito Concetta, Bacchini Dario
Faculty of Law, Giustino Fortunato University, Benevento, Italy.
Department of Humanities, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
Front Psychol. 2024 Jul 22;15:1443054. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1443054. eCollection 2024.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted the emotional well-being of adolescents worldwide. Some studies suggested that individuals with high Environmental Sensitivity may have been more likely to experience poor psychological adjustment during the pandemic than those with lower sensitivity. However, there is still limited research on how emotional responses varied across different stages of the pandemic and whether Environmental Sensitivity increased adolescents' vulnerability to the psychological impact of prolonged pandemic restrictions.
To address this gap, this study used a three-year longitudinal design (2020-2022) with a sample of 453 adolescents. They completed an online survey measuring their positive and negative emotions throughout the pandemic period, with Environmental Sensitivity considered a time-invariant covariate.
The results revealed that all participants, regardless of their level of Environmental Sensitivity, experienced a decrease in positive emotionality between the first and second years. However, this trend reversed, showing an increase between the second and third years. Regarding negative emotions, highly sensitive adolescents experienced a significant linear increase over time. In contrast, low-and medium-sensitive adolescents exhibited a quadratic trend, with a notable increase in negative emotions between the first and second years, followed by a slight decrease between the second and third years.
These findings provide further evidence of the negative impact of the pandemic on adolescents' emotional well-being. They also support the notion that Environmental Sensitivity is associated with individuals' ability to respond and adjust to adverse life events, with significant implications for future research and practice.
新冠疫情对全球青少年的情绪健康产生了重大影响。一些研究表明，环境敏感度高的个体在疫情期间可能比敏感度低的个体更容易出现心理调适不良的情况。然而，关于疫情不同阶段情绪反应如何变化，以及环境敏感度是否增加了青少年对长期疫情限制所带来心理影响的易感性，目前的研究仍然有限。
为填补这一空白，本研究采用了为期三年的纵向设计（2020 - 2022年），样本为453名青少年。他们完成了一项在线调查，测量其在整个疫情期间的积极和消极情绪，环境敏感度被视为一个时间不变的协变量。
结果显示，所有参与者，无论其环境敏感度如何，在第一年和第二年之间积极情绪都有所下降。然而，这种趋势在第二年和第三年发生了逆转，积极情绪有所增加。关于消极情绪，高敏感青少年随着时间的推移经历了显著的线性增加。相比之下，低敏感和中等敏感的青少年呈现出二次曲线趋势，消极情绪在第一年和第二年之间显著增加，随后在第二年和第三年略有下降。
这些发现进一步证明了疫情对青少年情绪健康的负面影响。它们还支持了这样一种观点，即环境敏感度与个体应对和适应不良生活事件的能力有关，这对未来的研究和实践具有重要意义。
