Abstract
Italy was quickly hit hard by the coronavirus. ‘Lockdown’ has significantly impacted the psychological health, personal wellbeing and quality of life of the people. The study aims to explore the relationship between positive and negative affect, as well as positive (spiritual well-being and flourishing) and negative outcomes (psychological distress caused by a traumatic life event in terms of perception of PTSD symptoms) on Italian adults during the lockdown period. Data was collected between April and May 2020. The participants were 281 Italian adults aged between 18 and 73 years. The survey was composed of the following measures: Flourishing Scale, Jarel Spiritual Well-Being scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, Impact of Event Scale—Revised, Fear of COVID-19. The mediational analysis shows that fear of COVID-19 fully mediates the relationship between negative affect and spiritual well-being and flourishing; fear of COVID-19 partially mediates the relationship between negative affect and PTSD symptoms; the positive affect shows only direct effects on positive outcomes. Therefore, fear of COVID-19 does not play any mediation role. Implications for psychological interventions and future research will be discussed.
Highlights
After the first cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Wuhan city, the WorldHealth Organization [1] ascertained the existence of a disease, naming it COVID-19 [1].This disease has spread rapidly around the world and has become a global public health threat [2]
Starting from an analysis of the existent literature, given that positive and negative affect are related to positive and negative individual outcomes, we aim to explore the effects that positive and negative affect have on positive outcomes, such as spiritual well-being and flourishing, and negative outcomes, such as psychological stress, expressed in terms of self-assessment of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), verifying if these relationships are mediated by fear of COVID-19
We aimed to explore whether the fear of COVID-19 was related to both positive and negative affects, and whether this influenced positive or negative states (PTSD symptoms)
Summary
Health Organization [1] ascertained the existence of a disease, naming it COVID-19 [1] This disease has spread rapidly around the world and has become a global public health threat [2]. Fear can reach high levels and arouse further negative emotions [8,9], increasing the risk of physical and psychopathological problems [10]. Pandemics cause fear responses as they are invisible viruses that are transmitted between people, increasing the risk of mortality [11,12]. People suffering from anxiety during a pandemic have high levels of post-traumatic stress, general stress, anxiety, health anxiety, and suicidal thoughts [14,15,16,17]
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