Anxiety, Motives, and Intention for Physical Activity during the Italian COVID-19 Lockdown: An Observational Longitudinal Study.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led governments to adopt strict containment measures to avoid spreading the virus. These essential measures led to home confinement that influenced both the physical and mental health of populations. Physical activity plays a key role in preventing chronic diseases and promoting protective psychological factors. In the context of a lockdown, understanding the motives that guide people to enact physical activity is an important issue for public health. The present study aimed to evaluate the relation between autonomous motivation and physical activity, considering the role of behavioral intention and anxiety in a longitudinal moderated mediation model. METHODS: Italian participants (N = 86; meanage = 29.74, standard deviation = 9.74; female = 53.5%) completed a booklet composed of different questionnaires (motivation, intention, anxiety, and physical activity) 3 weeks apart. RESULTS: The hypothesized model is supported by the evidence; both autonomous motivation and intention are direct predictors of physical activity. The results also show that the direct effect of autonomous motivation on physical activity is stronger in participants with low anxiety, while high levels of anxiety are a significant moderator of the intention-behavior relation. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, a multidisciplinary approach should be promoting methods and infrastructures to permit people to adhere to physical activity, as a front line against any health emergency.

Emotional Reactions and Adaptation to COVID-19 Lockdown (or Confinement) by Spanish Competitive Athletes: Some Lesson for the Future.

The Coronavirus Covid 19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has produced terrible effects in the world economy and is shaking social and political stability around the world. The world of sport has obviously been severely affected by the pandemic, as authorities progressively canceled all level of competitions, including the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. In Spain, the initial government-lockdown closed the Sports High-performance Centers, and many other sports facilities. In order to support athlete's health and performance at crises like these, an online questionnaire named RECOVID-19, was designed to assess how athletes were living their lives during such periods of home confinement. The main purpose of the questionnaire was to assess the impact of prolongued confinement on athlete's psychological, emotional, and behavioral performance. One thousand, two hundred forty-eight athletes participated in the survey. They had the fllowing characteristics: (Mean age = 22.31 ± 11.49, Female: 53%), who compete at National (N: 1017, Mean age = 21.58 ± 11.42, Female: 52%) and International level (N: 231, Mean age = 25.56 ± 11.22, Female: 57%). Results showed that during the confinement period, those athletes who lacked motivation reported a higher level of stressful thoughts, more behavioral problems, and greater emotional upheaval (anger, fatigue, tension, and depression). However, those athletes who accepted confinement measures as necessary, and were in favor of respecting the rules of social isolation, fostered positive emotional states such as feelings of friendship. In addition, the availability of some sport equipment together with the ability to continue some training, were (1) protective factors against emotional stress, lack of motivation and behavioral problems; and (2) they were associated with greater respect for, and adherence to, confinement rules. Gender differences, tested by multigroup analysis, revealed that coping activities were more often associated to negative emotional states among women, whereas the ongoing availability of training information and future conditions were equally protective factors for both genders. This study also showed that receiving coaching, support and completing frequent training routines seem to be valuable tools to prevent or reduce some of the harmful effects of isolation on athlete's emotional well-being. The conclusions derived from this research would possibly help sport authorities to design supporting policies and plans to support athletes and trainers in future disruptive health crises.

Psychosocial variables and quality of life during the COVID-19 lockdown: a correlational study on a convenience sample of young Italians.

BACKGROUND: In 2020, to limit the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), many countries, including Italy, have issued a lengthy quarantine period for the entire population. For this reason lifestyle has changed, bringing inevitable repercussions to the Quality of Life (QoL). The present study aims to identify which psychosocial variables predict behaviors capable of affecting the QoL during the lockdown period, potentially highlighting factors that might promote well-being and health in the Italian population during the epidemic. METHODS: Between 27 April 2020 and 11 May 2020, we administered a web-survey to a sample of young Italian people (age M = 21.2; SD = 3.5; female = 57.7% of the sample). Employing variance-based structural equation modeling, we attempted to identify whether social connectedness, social support, and loneliness were variables predictive of the QoL of young Italians. We also sought to identify specific psychological factors, such as symbolic threat, realistic threat, and the threat from potentially contaminated objects, was correlated to COVID-19 fear and whether engaging in particular behaviors was likely to improve the QoL. RESULTS: Our results suggest that social connectedness and loneliness are significant predictors of QoL, while social support did not have a significant effect on QoL. Furthermore, we observed that symbolic and realistic threats and the threat from potentially contaminated objects are significant and positive predictors of COVID-19 fear. Moreover, COVID-19 fear had significant and positive relationships with the carrying out of specific behaviors, such as creative activities during the isolation period and that this related to affirming individuals' country-specific identity. Finally, COVID-19 fear is a significant predictor of behavioral factors related to the adherence to public health advice in line with national guidance regarding the containment of COVID-19; this factor, however, did not correlate with QoL. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest the importance of social context and psychological factors to help devise intervention strategies to improve the QoL during lockdown from epidemic events and, in particular, support the importance of promoting social communication and accurate information about the transmission of the virus.

COVID-19 Outbreak and Physical Activity in the Italian Population: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Underlying Psychosocial Mechanisms.

Italy is one of the first European epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic. In attempts to hinder the spread of the novel coronavirus disease, Italian government hardened protective measures, from quarantine to lockdown, impacting millions of lives dramatically. Amongst the enacted restrictions, all non-essential activities were prohibited as well as all outdoor activities banned. However, at the first spur of the outbreak, for about a dozen of days, physical and sports activities were permitted, while maintaining social distancing. In this timeframe, by administering measures coming from self-determination theory and theory of planned behavior and anxiety state, in an integrated approach, we investigated the prevalence of these activities by testing, via a Structural Equation Model, the influence of such psychosocial variables on the intention to preserve physical fitness during the healthcare emergency. Through an adequate fit of the hypothesized model and a multi-group analysis, we compared the most COVID-19 hit Italian region - Lombardy - to the rest of Italy, finding that anxiety was significantly higher in the Lombardy region than the rest of the country. In addition, anxiety negatively influenced the intention to do physical activity. Giving the potential deleterious effects of physical inactivity due to personal restrictions, these data may increase preparedness of public health measures and attractiveness of recommendations, including on the beneficial effects of exercise, under circumstances of social distancing to control an outbreak of a novel infectious disease.