ABSTRACT
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is still having a strong impact on psychological and mental health worldwide. The pandemic generated a change in people's life and fear, loss of structure of daily routine, physical illness, depression, and stress, are only some of the potentially long-term consequences. The coping strategies used to deal with these difficulties may have influenced the perception of well-being, so the present study aimed to evaluate mental health in relation to individual characteristics and to explore the more effective coping strategies used by the Italian population and their impact on psychological well-being. Method(s): The web-based survey was delivered by Qualtrics between 30 November and 10 December 2020. A total of 537 individuals (>18) were recruited and all participants completed measures of sociodemographic data, general psychological well-being (PGWBI), and coping strategies (COPE-NVI). Result(s): Females, students, and unmarried people reported the lowest levels of mental health. Specifically, the coping strategy called "positive attitude" was positively correlated with psychological well-being, while "avoidance" and "social support strategies" negatively influenced it. The coping strategies named "problem-focused" and "transcendentoriented" resulted not statistically significant. Conclusion(s): The use of maladaptive strategies (e.g., avoidance-oriented) set up negative symptoms such as anxiety or depression whereas the beneficial ones can be central to optimally managing the psychological effects of long-lasting current COVID-19. From a preventive point of view, it is hence important to take care both of those who are already suffering from psychological disorders and of the non-clinical population, starting to question how psychopathology will change after the pandemic. New treatment directions should be found. The results suggest that to prevent mental disorders, therapists must consider the use of coping strategies in clinical practice. Implications for clinical preventive interventions are reported.