Defense mechanism responses to COVID-19

Back to School after Corona Virus Disease of 2019: New Relationships, Distance Schooling, and Experienced Routine

The Corona Virus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has upset the students' daily routine, forcing them at first into a sudden transition to distance learning and then to a return to school modelled on the basis of infection containment measures. The present research involved 157 students from schools in central Italy with a mean age of 13.58 years old to investigate the affective impact of the pandemic on the school experience and its components (recess, oral testing, relationships with classmates, and relationship pupils-teachers). The results show that only a few have experienced school interruption in a traumatic way: they have appreciated neither distance learning, nor the return to school; for these teenagers, the school of the past has died. Other adolescents and pre-adolescents tried to replace the face-to-face mode with distance learning, maintaining certain attention to the school even during the quarantine. However, the online mode did not keep its promise. Those who have invested more in digital innovation find it difficult to return to normality today. For all of them, socialization mediated by school experience is decisive in supporting the return to ordinary life after the pandemic.

Analyzing the Costs and Benefits of Utilizing a Mixed-Strategy Approach in Infectious Disease Control under a Voluntary Vaccination Policy

Infectious diseases pose significant public health risks, necessitating effective control strategies. One such strategy is implementing a voluntary vaccination policy, which grants individuals the autonomy to make their own decisions regarding vaccination. However, exploring different approaches to optimize disease control outcomes is imperative, and involves assessing their associated costs and benefits. This study analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of employing a mixed-strategy approach under a voluntary vaccination policy in infectious disease control. We examine the potential benefits of such an approach by utilizing a vaccination game model that incorporates cost and benefit factors, where lower costs and higher benefits lead to reduced infection rates. Here, we introduce a mixed-strategy framework that combines individual-based risk assessment (IB-RA) and society-based risk assessment (SB-RA) strategies. A novel dynamical equation is proposed that captures the decision-making process of individuals as they choose their strategy based on personal or communal considerations. In addition, we explore the implications of the mixed-strategy approach within the context of social dilemmas. We examine deviations from expected behavior and the concept of social efficiency deficit (SED) by allowing for the evolution of vaccine strategy preferences alongside risk perception. By comprehensively evaluating the financial implications and societal advantages associated with the mixed-strategy approach, decision-makers can allocate resources and implement measures to combat infectious diseases within the framework of a voluntary vaccination policy.

Measuring Vulnerability in Grief: The Psychometric Properties of the Italian Adult Attitude to Grief Scale

Although experiences of loss and the consequent grief are natural in human life, some individuals may have difficulty managing these events, to the point of developing significant impairment in their functioning in important life areas. Given this, the present research aimed to explore the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Adult Attitude to Grief scale (AAG) to facilitate research on adult vulnerability to grief among Italian-speaking populations. A sample of 367 participants (M_age = 30.44, SD = 11.21; 78% females) participated in this research. A back-translation procedure was implemented to develop the Italian AAG. Then, participants completed the Italian AAG alongside a battery of other self-report psychometric scales in order to assess aspects of the construct validity of the AAG: the Forty-Item Defense Style Questionnaire, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. A bifactor structure was found to have the best fit to the data, supporting the possibility of using both the general factor (i.e., vulnerability) and three dimensions (i.e., overwhelmed, controlled, and resilient). Unlike the original version, the control dimension emerged as a "protective" factor in the Italian population, together with the resilient factor. Furthermore, results provided satisfactory indications of internal consistency and construct validity. In conclusion, the Italian AAG was shown to be a valid, reliable, quick, and easy-to-use scale that can be used both for research and clinical practice in the Italian context.

The role of defense styles and psychopathological symptoms on adherence to conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, individuals felt uncertain and insecure. As a consequence, conspiracy theories flourished and quickly spread. In the current study, we examine the relationship between general and COVID-19-related conspiracy theories, cognitive reflection, psychopathological symptoms, and defense styles in a sample of Italian adults. A total of 450 participants (50.2% male; mean age = 40.89 years, SD = 12.15) took part in an online survey. Two linear regression models on the general (explained variance 22.6%) and COVID-19-related (explained variance 33.0%) conspiracy theories have been tested. Among the predictive factors, older age, mania symptoms, and immature defenses facilitate adherence to conspiracy theories; on the opposite side, higher education, cognitive reflection, and mature defenses protected from adherence to conspiracy theories. The study provides some novel findings about factors that are significantly associated with general and COVID-19-related conspiracy theories, and highlights the pivotal role of individuals' psychological defenses in conspiracy theories.

Mindfulness and Defense Mechanisms as Explicit and Implicit Emotion Regulation Strategies against Psychological Distress during Massive Catastrophic Events

Emotion regulation is an important aspect of psychological functioning that influences subjective experience and moderates emotional responses throughout the lifetime. Adaptive responses to stressful life events depend on the positive interaction between explicit and implicit emotion regulation strategies, such as mindfulness and defense mechanisms. This study demonstrates how these emotion regulation strategies predict psychological health during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. A convenience sample of 6385 subjects, recruited via snowball sampling on various social media platforms, responded to an online survey assessing psychological reaction to social restrictions imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Italy. Psychological distress, post-traumatic stress symptoms, mindfulness, and defense mechanisms were assessed using SCL-90, IES-R, MAAS, and DMRS-30-SR, respectively. Higher mindfulness was significantly associated with higher overall defensive maturity and a greater use of high-adaptive defenses (p < 0.0001). Both mindfulness and defense mechanisms acted as good predictors of psychological health (R² = 0.541) and posttraumatic symptoms (R² = 0.332), confirming the role of emotion regulation in protecting against maladaptive responses to stressful situations.