| Abstrakt: |
Background: The long-lasting consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological well-being of young people have become an emerging research topic, which still raises several questions for post-pandemic interventions at the individual and community levels. This research investigated the relationship between COVID-19 pandemic life events and the occurrence of binge eating behaviors in emerging adults, hypothesizing indirect effects of the emotional impact of pandemic events and social anxiety. Methods: Data collection was conducted in November and December 2021 in Italy, involving 286 university students aged 18 to 30 years (Mage = 20.20; SDage = 2.43; 69.6% women) who completed an online anonymous survey. Participants reported the pandemic-related stressors experienced in the last year (i.e., adverse life events; the number of days in quarantine), the long-lasting emotional impact of these experiences in the previous week (i.e., intrusive thoughts; avoidance of thoughts), social anxiety symptoms, and frequency of binge eating episodes. A serial mediation model was tested in line with the research hypotheses. Results: Both the number of days in quarantine and the pandemic adverse life events in the last year were significantly and positively related to binge eating via the sequential indirect effects of (1) intrusive thoughts and (2) social anxiety. Conclusion: Our findings provide support for the long-lasting effects of pandemic events and quarantine on emerging adults' mental health, with cascade effects on intrusive symptoms, social anxiety, and binge eating. The study has interesting research, practice, and public health policies implications. Plain english summary: This study explores the long-lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people's mental health, one year following the pandemic outbreak. Specifically, we administered online anonymous questionnaires to 286 university students living in Italy. Two pandemic experiences were investigated: (1) the number of days spent in quarantine during the past year, and (2) the amount of adverse life events caused by the pandemic. Among the mental health symptoms, we investigated: the emotional impact of pandemic events (i.e. intrusive thoughts, and avoidance of thoughts about the pandemic), social anxiety symptoms (i.e. social withdrawal and fear of negative evaluations), and binge eating (i.e. incontrollable overeating episodes). Some pandemic-related conditions, such as prolonged isolation and fear of contagion, might have triggered social anxiety symptoms in vulnerable individuals, and binge eating might have been a dysfunctional response to these negative feelings. Our results confirmed that the higher number of days in quarantine and the higher amount of adverse life events caused by the pandemic have had cascade effects on individuals' well-being. Specifically, they led to more intrusive, undesired, and incontrollable thoughts about the pandemic, which in turn increased social anxiety, which sequentially contributed to explaining more frequent binge eating episodes. These findings provide indications for researchers, health professionals, and public health policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
