Psychiatric symptoms and emotional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Italian adolescents during the third lockdown: a cross-sectional cohort study

Abstract

A previous study showed that about 80% of Italian adolescents reported isolated symptoms of acute or post-traumatic stress during the first lockdown in Italy. We proposed a new questionnaire to investigate the presence of symptoms related to anxiety, panic, depression, eating disorders, sleep disorders, social withdrawal, stress disorders, psychotic symptoms, anti-conservative thoughts, and self-harming acts aggravated by COVID-19 restrictions and possible differences between males and females. 500 adolescents (12-18 years) completed an online survey created using validated scales. 41% of the respondents felt more stress than during the first lockdown. 1.85% showed suprathreshold symptoms for post-traumatic stress disorder and 21% showed isolated symptoms of acute or post-traumatic stress due to the pandemic. In addition, we found psychotic symptoms (16%), panic (25% suprathreshold), anxiety (46.8% suprathreshold), depression (18.7% suprathreshold), eating-related symptoms (51%), sleep difficulties (57%), a tendency to social withdrawal after the pandemic (15%), suicidal ideation (30%), and self-harming behavior (9%). Furthermore, girls showed a more severe level of distress. The results show a high prevalence of symptoms because of the COVID-19 pandemic and confirm the need for easy access to support and treatment service to help contain the bio-psycho-social risk factors prompted by the current pandemic and promptly and effectively manage the consequences.