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Emotional Well-Being and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Crisis

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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Behavioral and Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2024 | Viewed by 5446

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Silvia Francesca Maria Pizzoli

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Guest Editor

Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, 20122 Milan, Italy
Interests: eHealth; psychological personalized treatments; stress; anxiety; digital and blended approaches in psychotherapy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Alessandro Alberto Rossi

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Guest Editor

Section of Applied Psychology, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
Interests: digital health; psychological personalized treatments; stress; anxiety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has triggered health, social, and economic challenges worldwide.

The dramatic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and the social isolation arising as a result caused far-reaching consequences to both individuals and collective populations. COVID-19 both triggered and aggravated mental health problems. Indeed, in the last two years, mental health and well-being have been widely impacted by the pandemic, with an increasing number of people suffering from anxiety, depression, loneliness, post-traumatic stress, and a variety of other psychological symptoms. Suicidal thoughts and behaviors have increased as well.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent findings on psychological struggles, emotional well-being, and coping strategies adopted to face the challenges related to the pandemic.

We welcome submissions on mental health risk factors, the trajectory of adjustment and well-being, and resilience and behavioral changes related to the problems raised by the pandemic.

Submissions from the fields of psychology, psychiatry, and sociology regarding these topics are welcome. Contributions considering the implementation and effectiveness of interventions for specific groups of people (health workers, children, elderly, patients, etc.) are especially encouraged.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Behavioral Sciences.

Dr. Silvia Francesca Maria Pizzoli
Dr. Alessandro Alberto Rossi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

well-being
coping strategies
mental health
COVID-19
pandemic
emotions
adjustment

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1084 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Switch to Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Interplay between Personality and Mental Health on University Students

by Marianna Alesi, Giulia Giordano, Ambra Gentile and Barbara Caci

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(7), 5255; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20075255 - 24 Mar 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1585

Abstract

The switching from traditional to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging for students, determining an increase in physical and mental health problems. The current paper applied a two-step cluster analysis in a large sample of n = 1028 university students (Mage = 21.10 years, SD = 2.45 years; range: 18–30 years; 78.4% females). Participants responded to an online survey exploring neuroticism, trait/state anxiety, general self-efficacy, academic motivation, fear of COVID-19, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical and mental health, and the help requests. Results showed two significant clusters of students having a Maladaptive Academic Profile (n = 456; 44.4%) or an Adaptive Academic Profile (n = 572; 55.6%). Significant differences were found between the two clusters, where students belonging to the Maladaptive Academic Profile reported higher levels of neuroticism, higher dispositional and situational anxiety, and fear of COVID-19, and lower self-efficacy and academic motivation than students of the Adaptive Academic Profile cluster. In addition, more physical or mental health problems and help requests, mainly to partners during the COVID-19 pandemic, were found in the Maladaptive Academic Profile cluster compared to the Adaptive Academic Profile. Finally, the practical implications of the study’s results in implementing university counseling services as protective measures to contrast psychological distress in the long-term COVID-19 pandemic are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emotional Well-Being and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Crisis)

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15 pages, 399 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predictors of Feeling of Threat Caused by COVID-19 Pandemic, the Distinctive Effects of Automatic vs. Reflective Emotions

by Maciej Pastwa, Kamil K. Imbir, Adrianna Wielgopolan and Ernest Adach

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(7), 5231; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20075231 - 23 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1295

Abstract

The worldwide pandemic that started in December 2019 was a cause of a great rise in the feeling of threat in society. A feeling of threat and distress can be influenced by the span of emotions experienced by a person, and as it is rather clear, that the situation of pandemic evokes negative emotions, they can range from fear to depression, to even disgust. In this study, we wanted to verify the influence of the negative emotions of automatic origin, related to the well-being and homeostasis of the organism and the negative emotions of reflective origin, which are related to social constructs, on the feeling of threat caused by the pandemic outbreak. We expected automatic emotions to have a greater influence on the feeling of threat. We used an online questionnaire to measure the intensity of negative emotions and the feeling of threat among Polish participants in the time of the early outbreak of the pandemic (March–April 2020). Regression analyses were used to identify the predictors of the feeling of threat. The results show the distinctive effect of automatic and reflective groups of emotions. While automatic emotions always increased the feeling of threat, the reflective emotions suppressed the distress, especially in the group of middle-aged and elderly participants. As reflective emotions are developing in the process of socialization, the observed results could suggest, that young people do not process the situation of the pandemic in reflective categories, which leaves them more worried about the situation. We suggest, that promoting reflective thinking can be helpful in interventions in the cases of anxiety caused by the pandemic, as well as in social communication regarding the topic of the pandemic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emotional Well-Being and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Crisis)

17 pages, 760 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Parental Happiness Socialization and Youth Adjustment in Italy and Azerbaijan in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era

by Carolina Lunetti, Laura Di Giunta, Giulia Gliozzo, Chiara Riccioni, Clementina Comitale, Emanuele Basili, Aysel Baxseliyeva and Alessia Teresa Virzì

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(4), 3604; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20043604 - 17 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1805

Abstract

This study aims to cross-culturally identify the parental socialization strategies in response to a child’s happiness and their associations with youth academic and socio-emotional adjustment, controlling for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were a convenient sample of Italian (N = 606, 81.9% mothers) and Azerbaijanis (N = 227, 61.4% mothers) parents of youths (M_age = 12.89, SD = 4.06; 51% girls). Parents filled out an online survey to assess their socialization strategies in response to their children’s happiness, their children’s negative emotion regulation and dysregulation, academic performance, and prosocial behavior. Exploratory factorial analysis showed the presence of two factors that enclosed supportive and unsupportive parental socialization strategies. A multiple-group path analysis model showed that similarly across countries, supportive parental strategies were positively related to youths’ prosocial behavior and that unsupportive parental strategies were positively related to youths’ negative emotion dysregulation, and negatively related to youths’ academic performance and negative emotion regulation. Those results emerged controlling for parents’ and adolescents’ gender and age, parents’ educational level, social desirability, and Covid-related problems. This study advances cross-cultural knowledge about the impact of the strategies that parents use to socialize their children’s happiness in the unique context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emotional Well-Being and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Crisis)

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