Students’ mental health problems before, during, and after COVID-19 lockdown in Italy
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Abstract
The lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic may have exacerbated mental health problems. To what degree mental health may be affected by social isolation is still poorly known. We collected prospective data on students' mental health in two instances: (i) in October and December 2019, and (ii) 6 months later, in April 2020 amidst the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy and in mid-May/June 2020, after the lifting of lockdown. A total of 358 Italian students aged 18-30 completed socio-demographic questionnaires and the Beck Depression Inventory - 2 (BDI-2), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory - Revised (OCI-R), the Eating Habits Questionnaire (EHQ), and the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3). We applied multiple regression models to evince any changes in the aforementioned questionnaire scores during and after lockdown with respect to the scores before lockdown. Students reported on average worse depressive symptoms during lockdown than 6 months before isolation (median increase in the BDI-2 score +2; IQR = -3, 6; β = 0.09 ± 0.03, p = 0.005), with students without any established diagnosis of psychopathology being affected the most. The regression models predict that 86.2% (IQR = 67.9, 91.4%) of students would not experience a clinically significant worsening of symptoms, while approximately 6% of our target population could develop more severe depressive symptoms. This study supports the view that depressive symptomatology may be aggravated during lockdown, but also highlights that after the lifting of lockdown any changes quickly vanished, as the BDI-2 scores were not different from the ones reported before lockdown.
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University students reported moderate to severe levels of depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“university students have been deeply affected by the pandemic, reporting moderate to severe levels of depression and anxiety”
From Examining the effectiveness and acceptability of a group-based ACT intervention delivered by videoconference to international university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2024) · cites this paper as Meda et al., 2021
The passage labeled “COVID-19 and depressive symptoms in students before and during lockdown” (Abstract; no page given) reports worse depressive symptoms among Italian university students during lockdown. It does not establish that students reported moderate-to-severe depression, and the searched passages provide no findings on anxiety. The supplied copy is also labeled with a title different from the cited paper’s, so the attribution cannot be fully verified. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredUniversity students have been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“University students have been deeply affected by the pandemic (e.g. Di Consiglio, Merola, Pascucci, Violani, & Couyoumdjian, 2021; Meda et al., 2021)”
From Examining the effectiveness and acceptability of a group-based ACT intervention delivered by videoconference to international university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2024) · cites this paper as Meda et al., 2021
After the lockdown, the psychological sequelae are still unclear and the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention during that period need to be investigated.
“Therefore, after the lockdown, the psychological sequelae are still unclear and the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention during that period need to be investigated.”
From Mindfulness-based online intervention increases well-being and decreases stress after Covid-19 lockdown (2022) · cites this paper as [47]
The indexed Abstract (no page given) discusses depressive symptoms before and during lockdown, but does not address whether psychological effects after lockdown were unclear. Searches for post-lockdown sequelae and mindfulness-based interventions found no passage assessing or calling for investigation of such an intervention. (LLM, conf=0.70)
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References 57 · Cited by 398
- Authors
- Meda, N., Pardini, S., Slongo, I., Bodini, L., Zordan, M. A., Rigobello, P., Visioli, F., & Novara, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Padua (IT)
- University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
- Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Visioli, Francesco
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Psychiatric Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-02
- Volume
- 134
- Pages
- 69-77
- ISSN
- 0022-3956 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3114923147
- Cited by
- 398
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 59 · 2022: 221 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 32.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Psychiatric Research (publishedVersion)
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Padua Research Archive (University of Padova) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- COVID-19 lockdown, student mental health, depressive symptoms, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, eating disorders, social isolation, post-lockdown recovery, university students, Italy
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adolescent, Adult, Mental Disorders, Female, Humans, Italy, Male, Prospective Studies, Quarantine, Surveys and Questionnaires, Social Isolation, Students, Universities, Young Adult
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