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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Anxiety in Older Adolescents at the Time of COVID-19
Daniela SmirniGioacchino LavancoPietro Smirnisubject
Stress managementCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)Populationlcsh:MedicineCOVID-19 pandemicvirus’ transmissionemotion awarenessArticlePhenomenology (philosophy)03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicineCOVID-19 pandemic; virus’ transmission; fear of contagion; breathing difficulty; healthy adolescents; emotion awareness; state anxietybreathing difficultySettore M-PSI/08 - Psicologia ClinicaPandemicSettore M-PSI/07 - Psicologia DinamicaMedicinePsychological counseling030212 general & internal medicinehealthy adolescentseducationeducation.field_of_studySettore M-PSI/02 - Psicobiologia E Psicologia Fisiologicabusiness.industrylcsh:Rfear of contagionGeneral Medicinebreathing difficulty emotion awareness fear of contagion healthy adolescents state anxiety virus’ transmission COVID-19 pandemicAnxietyEmotion awarenessmedicine.symptombusiness030217 neurology & neurosurgerystate anxietyClinical psychologydescription
Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) is a catastrophic health risk, with psychological, emotional, social, and relational implications. From the early stages of the virus spread, the elderly population was identified as the most vulnerable, and health authorities have rightly focused on this frailer population. Conversely, less attention was given to the emotional and psychological dimensions of children and adolescents. Moreover, even though they were the subjects whose lives and health were at low risk, they, nevertheless, had to face a reality full of anxiety, fears, and uncertainties. The current study investigated the state of anxiety and emotional awareness in a sample of healthy older adolescents, 84 females and 64 males, aged 17 to 19, during the pandemic lockdown, using the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and the Italian Emotion Awareness Questionnaire. An unexpected anxious phenomenology was found, affecting anxiety and the ideo-affective domain, while somatic symptomatology appeared to be less severe. The highest anxiety symptoms were breathing difficulties. These findings supported the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic may be a risk condition for an increased state of anxiety in older adolescents and suggested the need to provide (1) an effective, empathic communication system with direct participation of older adolescents, (2) a psychological counseling service for the stress management of adolescents.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-09-01 | Journal of Clinical Medicine; Volume 9; Issue 10; Pages: 3064 |