Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents could not leave their house freely, meet up with friends, or attend school; previous literature showed that youths under enforced confinement or quarantine were five times more likely to suffer from psychopathological symptoms and use social networks sites (SNs) greatly. This study aimed to verify whether the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship could predict youths’ psychopathological symptoms and their SN use during the pandemic, and to evaluate the possible moderator role of their the capacity to be alone. Seven hundred and thirty-nine (n = 739) adolescents were recruited from the general population during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy, and they were administered The Capacity to be Alone Scale, The BSMAS, the YSR, and the Perceived Filial Self-efficacy Scale. Our results confirmed a direct effect of the perceived filial self-efficacy on the psychopathological symptoms so that a poorer perceived quality of the relationship with the caregivers predicted higher psychopathological symptoms in youths. Moreover, greater social networks use was predictive of psychopathological symptoms in adolescents. Our results also showed a significant interaction effect between adolescents’ perceived filial efficacy and the capacity to be alone on SN use and on psychopathological symptoms. These results suggest that youths’ response to the confinement during the pandemic is influenced both by individual characteristics (the capacity to be alone) and by relational variables (the perceived filial self-efficacy).
Highlights
Published: 20 October 2021The Sars-Cov-2 virus has been spreading throughout the world since February 2020, causing more than four million deaths and impacting people’s interpersonal and social interactions, freedom of movement and travel, as well as work, school, and family habits [1].In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have implemented disease containment measures such as school closures, social distancing, and home confinement
Social network site use was shown to be negatively linked with the perceived filial self-efficacy and the capacity to be alone; social networks sites (SNs) use was positively correlated with psychopathological symptoms
The capacity to be alone was linked to a lower level of psychopathological symptoms
Summary
The Sars-Cov-2 virus has been spreading throughout the world since February 2020, causing more than four million deaths and impacting people’s interpersonal and social interactions, freedom of movement and travel, as well as work, school, and family habits [1]. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have implemented disease containment measures such as school closures, social distancing, and home confinement. It has been noted that the COVID-19 pandemic can be defined as a potentially traumatic environmental experience challenging individuals’. Resilience capacities to cope with distress, uncertainty and subversion of previous and consolidated habits [6]; only a few studies have so far investigated the psychological outcomes of the pandemic in adolescents experiencing solitude from their peers and every-day familiar environments (schools, gyms, etc.) during lockdowns.
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