TY - JOUR
T1 - Reduced hedonic tone and emotion dysregulation predict depressive symptoms severity during the covid-19 outbreak
T2 - An observational study on the Italian general population
AU - Moccia, Lorenzo
AU - Janiri, Delfina
AU - Giuseppin, Giulia
AU - Agrifoglio, Benedetta
AU - Monti, Laura
AU - Mazza, Marianna
AU - Caroppo, Emanuele
AU - Fiorillo, Andrea
AU - Sani, Gabriele
AU - Di Nicola, Marco
AU - Janiri, Luigi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic has spiked stress-related symptoms worldwide. This study aims to assess depressive symptoms related to the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak among the Italian general population and to analyze anhedonia and emotion dysregulation as potential predictors of depression severity. Through an online questionnaire, we collected sociodemographic and lockdown-related information; depressive symptoms, hedonic tone, and emotion dysregulation were assessed through the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, respectively. In our sample (n = 500), 122 individuals (24.4%) reported depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak. Individuals with and without depression differed in gender (X2 = 4.77, df = 1, p = 0.02) and age (X2 = 15.7, df = 4, p = 0.003). Among individuals presenting with depressive symptoms, those reporting close contact with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were at higher risk for severe depression (p = 0.026). Reduced hedonic tone (p = 0.014) and emotion dysregulation (p < 0.001) also predicted depression severity. To the best of our knowledge, these are among the earliest data that focus on the risk for depression among a sizeable sample of the Italian general population during the COVID-19 outbreak. Our results indicate emotion dysregulation and reduced hedonic tone as potential factors predicting COVID-19-related depression severity and provide insight into developing targeted intervention policies.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic has spiked stress-related symptoms worldwide. This study aims to assess depressive symptoms related to the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak among the Italian general population and to analyze anhedonia and emotion dysregulation as potential predictors of depression severity. Through an online questionnaire, we collected sociodemographic and lockdown-related information; depressive symptoms, hedonic tone, and emotion dysregulation were assessed through the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, respectively. In our sample (n = 500), 122 individuals (24.4%) reported depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak. Individuals with and without depression differed in gender (X2 = 4.77, df = 1, p = 0.02) and age (X2 = 15.7, df = 4, p = 0.003). Among individuals presenting with depressive symptoms, those reporting close contact with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were at higher risk for severe depression (p = 0.026). Reduced hedonic tone (p = 0.014) and emotion dysregulation (p < 0.001) also predicted depression severity. To the best of our knowledge, these are among the earliest data that focus on the risk for depression among a sizeable sample of the Italian general population during the COVID-19 outbreak. Our results indicate emotion dysregulation and reduced hedonic tone as potential factors predicting COVID-19-related depression severity and provide insight into developing targeted intervention policies.
KW - Affect regulation
KW - Anhedonia
KW - Coronavirus
KW - Depression
KW - Mental health
KW - SARS-CoV-2
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U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18010255
DO - 10.3390/ijerph18010255
M3 - Article
C2 - 33396363
AN - SCOPUS:85099034603
VL - 18
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
SN - 1661-7827
IS - 1
M1 - 255
ER -