Psychological Lockdown Experiences: Downtime or an Unexpected Time for Being?

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 in Italy resulted in the implementation of a lockdown that obligated the first time the general populace to remain at home for approximately two months. This lockdown interrupted citizens’ professional and educational activities, in addition to closing shops, offices and educational institutions. The resulting changes in people’s daily routines and activities induced unexpected changes in their thoughts, feelings and attitudes, in addition to altering their life perceptions. Consequently, the present study explores how young adults perceived their lives under lockdown during the final week of March 2020, when the reported number of daily coronavirus infections reached its peak in Italy. The research was carried out among 293 university students (234 women and 59 men) with an average age of 20.85 years old (SD = 3.23). The researchers asked participants to describe the emotions, thoughts and experiences that characterized their time under lockdown. The study analyzed specific narratives related to time and space using grounded theory methodology, which was applied using Atlas 8 software, leading to the creation of 68 codes. The study organized these codes into three specific categories: confined in the present, confined in the past, and striving toward one’s goals. Finally, the researchers also created a core-category labeled “continuity of being.” The results showed that the closure of open spaces caused a division in participants’ perceptions of time continuity, with many viewing themselves as feeling fragmented and as living the present in a static and fixed way. Additionally, participants also saw the present as being discontinuous from the past, while, simultaneously, projecting toward the future and the changes it might bring. Finally, this study examined further implications surrounding individual projecting among young people in greater depth.

Sensemaking Processes during the First Months of COVID-19 Pandemic: Using Diaries to Deepen How Italian Youths Experienced Lockdown Measures

“…Overall, these differences suggest that along with other coping strategies, during the third week of lockdown (T1) participants relied more on focusing on the positive consequences of lockdown measures and less on resigning themselves to the latter in order to cope with stay-at-home orders and the changes they had brought about in their daily lives and routines. An example of this attitude among Italian citizens can be detected in them singing together from their balconies, exposing billboards stating “everything will be fine” out of their houses, and valuing more the collective dimensions of belonging to a community, sharing a national identity, and providing reciprocal support as far as it was possible in compliance with the protective measures [ 8 , 12 , 49 ]. Conversely, during the penultimate week before the ease of lockdown measures (T2), that is, after about two months of lockdown, this trend was reversed, with respondents showing higher rates of resignation and lower capacity for positive reframing.…”

“…The crisis brought about by the pandemic caused a break in one’s sense of continuity and life planning, determining the need to plan and act under new, uncertain conditions characterized by the lack of landmarks and temporal perspectives [ 8 ]. Thus, the need to build new meanings emerged as critical in order to be able to understand and face this crisis [ 13 , 57 ], which was also a crisis of individual and social meanings [ 3 , 4 ].…”

“…Consistently, it has been defined as a syndemic [ 4 ] and a cultural trauma [ 5 ]. Indeed, these measures, as far as needed, required citizens to face disruptive, unprecedented, and unexpected changes in their daily lives and habits [ 2 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Further, they suddenly changed their opportunities to experience their communities, meant both as physical spaces (e.g., streets and common areas were empty and unavailable due to stay-at-home orders) and as social entities (e.g., a growing mistrust towards others as potential COVID-19 carriers emerged) [ 12 ].…”

The selective effect of lockdown experience on citizens' perspectives: A multilevel, multiple informant approach to personal and community resilience duringCOVID‐19 pandemic

“…As far as needed, lockdown measures – kept for a prolonged time – represented an unprecedented experience in citizens' lives and caused disruptive changes in individual and community activities, relationships, sensemaking processes and habits (e.g., De Vincenzo, Serio, Franceschi, Barbagallo, & Zamperini, 2022 ; Demertzis & Eyerman, 2020 ; Gatti & Procentese, 2021 ; Horton, 2020 ; Procentese, Gatti, & Ceglie, 2021 ). They brought about several psychological consequences, among which anxiety and depression stemmed (Pancani, Marinucci, Aureli, & Riva, 2021 ; Salari et al, 2020 ; Vindegaard & Benros, 2020 ), along with more pessimistic future perspectives and concerns for current circumstances and for the opportunities for personal growth (Procentese et al, 2021 ; Procentese, Gatti, & Ceglie, 2021 ; Torales, O'Higgins, Castaldelli‐Maia, & Ventriglio, 2020 ; Varga et al, 2021 ). However, some positive and adaptive reactions aimed at coping with these needed restrictions emerged too (Asmundson, Paluszek, & Taylor, 2021 ; Gattino et al, 2022 ; Migliorini et al, 2021 ; Procentese, Esposito, et al, 2021 ; Tamiolaki & Kalaitzaki, 2020 ), suggesting that COVID‐19 pandemic could have also led to post‐traumatic personal growth (e.g., Jenkins et al, 2021 ; Ulset & von Soest, 2022 ), which consists in positive psychological changes in the face of traumatic experiences (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004 ).…”

“…They brought about several psychological consequences, among which anxiety and depression stemmed (Pancani, Marinucci, Aureli, & Riva, 2021 ; Salari et al, 2020 ; Vindegaard & Benros, 2020 ), along with more pessimistic future perspectives and concerns for current circumstances and for the opportunities for personal growth (Procentese et al, 2021 ; Procentese, Gatti, & Ceglie, 2021 ; Torales, O'Higgins, Castaldelli‐Maia, & Ventriglio, 2020 ; Varga et al, 2021 ). However, some positive and adaptive reactions aimed at coping with these needed restrictions emerged too (Asmundson, Paluszek, & Taylor, 2021 ; Gattino et al, 2022 ; Migliorini et al, 2021 ; Procentese, Esposito, et al, 2021 ; Tamiolaki & Kalaitzaki, 2020 ), suggesting that COVID‐19 pandemic could have also led to post‐traumatic personal growth (e.g., Jenkins et al, 2021 ; Ulset & von Soest, 2022 ), which consists in positive psychological changes in the face of traumatic experiences (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004 ). Indeed, during the enforcement of stay‐at‐home orders individuals endeavoured to self‐distract, to engage in new activities and hobbies, and to make the most out of that unforeseen experience by relying on their own assets (e.g., Gaboardi et al, 2022 ; Procentese, Esposito, et al, 2021 ) as well as on community‐related ones (e.g., Gattino et al, 2022 ; Migliorini et al, 2021 ; Procentese, Capone, Caso, Donizzetti, & Gatti, 2020 ).…”