Abstract
Research shows that college students are more vulnerable to affective disorders than the general population. Studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the positive association of students’ affective disorder symptoms with restriction measures and demographic features, whereas well-being dimensions and daily life experiences were rarely explored. To partially fill this gap, during the first national lockdown 1252 Italian emerging adults attending university courses in health professions were invited to complete the Mental Health Continuum—Short Form (MHC-SF), assessing positive mental health levels, and to answer optional open-ended questions concerning challenges perceived in the pandemic condition, abilities and skills required to face it, and everyday situations of most intense satisfaction. Results obtained from MHC-SF allowed to classify 25.96% of the participants as flourishing and 8.07% as languishing, conditions reflecting high and low levels of mental health, respectively. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that the domains more frequently associated with both challenges and satisfaction were education, inner life (reflections, emotions, planning), family and social interactions, while the competences deemed as relevant to face the pandemic were adaptive coping strategies, resilience, hardiness, and optimism. Significant differences in answer distribution across domains were detected according to participants’ gender and mental health level. These findings suggest that learning activities and interpersonal relationships, together with individual efforts to reorganize daily routine and achieve effective time management, represented key resources enabling emerging adults attending university to adaptively cope with the pandemic-related challenges.
This study was partially supported by the Romeo and Enrica Invernizzi Foundation, grant LIB_BANDI_COVID_19_03.
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Sanzò, S., Borgonovo, F., Bernardelli, G., Delle Fave, A. (2022). Mental Health and Daily Experience of Italian College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Leontopoulou, S., Delle Fave, A. (eds) Emerging Adulthood in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Other Crises: Individual and Relational Resources. Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22288-7_5
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