Covid-19 outbreak: What impact of the lockdown on college students’ academic path and attitudes toward studying?

Yura Loscalzo, Marco Giannini

Accepted August 31, 2021

First published August 31, 2021

https://doi.org/10.26387/bpa.291.5

Abstract

Many countries imposed the lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, with the consequent closure of schools and a great uncertainty concerning the health, economic, and academic situation. We aim to analyze the impact of the lockdown on college students’ academic path and attitudes toward studying, including studyholism (or obsession toward studying), study engagement, and dropout intention. We gathered 6075 Italian college students. We performed one-sample t-tests (with students gathered before the pandemic as the reference group), paired-samples t-tests, and a path analysis model. During the lockdown, students experienced higher levels of studyholism, lower intention to dropout, and no change in their study engagement levels. Also, they increased their time spent studying daily but decreased the days per week of studying. Finally, we found that intolerance for uncertainty is a good predictor of studyholism, which in turn is a positive predictor of the impairment in study quality and motivation. Universities should provide students with psychological interventions to reduce their studyholism and increase their tolerance for uncertainty, aiming to increase their resilience, also in case of another pandemic or a new wave of Covid-19. From a theoretical perspective, the definition of problematic overstudying as an internalizing disorder is further supported.

References

  • ATROSZKO, P.A., ANDREASSEN, C.S., GRIFFITHS, M.D. &PALLESEN, S. (2015). Study Addiction – A new area ofpsychological study: Conceptualization, assessment, andpreliminary empirical findings. Journal of Behavioral Addiction,4 (2), 75-84.

  • BALDWIN, P.A., WHITFORD, T.J. & GRISHAM, J.R. (2017).The relationship between hoarding symptoms, intoleranceof uncertainty, and error-related negativity. Journal ofPsychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 39, 313-321.

  • BOTTESI,G.,NOVENTA,S.,FREESTON,M.H.&GHISI,M.(2019).Seeking certainty about intolerance of uncertainty: Addressingold and new issues through the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale– Revised. PLOS ONE, 14 (2), e0211929.

  • BYRNE, B.M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basicconcepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ: LawrenceErlbaum Associates.

  • CARLETON, R.N., COLLIMORE, K.C. & ASMUNDSON, G.J.G.(2010). It’s not just the judgments – It’s that I don’t know:Intolerance of uncertainty as a predictor of social anxiety. Journalof Anxiety Disorders, 24, 189-195.

  • CARLETON, R.N., NORTON, P.J. & ASMUNDSON, G.J.G. (2007).Fearing the unknown: A short version of the Intolerance ofUncertainty Scale. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21, 105-117.

  • CHAN, J.F., YUAN, S., KOK, K.H., TO, K.K., CHU, H., YANG, J., …& YUEN, K.Y. (2020). A familial cluster of pneumonia associatedwith the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-persontransmission: A study of a family cluster. Lancet, 395 (10223),514-523.

  • COMER, J.S., KENDALL, P.C., FRANKLIN, M.E., HUDSON, J.L. &PIMENTEL, S.S. (2004). Obsessing/worrying about the overlapbetween obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxietydisorder in youth. Clinical Psychology Review, 24 (6), 663-683.

  • GAGLIANO, A., VILLANI, P.G., CÒ, F.M., MANELLI, A., PAGLIA,S., BISAGNI, P.A., … & LOMBARDO, M. (2020). 2019-nCov’sepidemic in middle province of Northern Italy: Impact, logistic& strategy in the first line hospital. Disaster Medicine and PublicHealth Preparedness, 24.

  • GENTES, E.L. & RUSCIO, A.M. (2011). A meta-analysis of therelation of intolerance of uncertainty to symptoms of generalizedanxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 31, 923-933.

  • HU, L. & BENTLER, P.M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes incovariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus newalternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6 (1), 1-55.

  • LI, H.Y., CAO, H., LEUNG, D.Y. & MAK, Y.W. (2020). Thepsychological impacts of a COVID-19 outbreak on collegestudents in China: A longitudinal study. International Journal ofEnvironmental Rresearch and Public Health, 17 (11), 3933.

  • LIND, C. & BOSCHEN, M.J. (2009). Intolerance of uncertaintymediates the relationship between responsibility beliefs andcompulsivechecking.JournalofAnxietyDisorders,23,1047-1052.

  • LOSCALZO, Y. (2019). Heavy study investment in college students:Studyholism and study engagement prevalence. AppliedPsychology Bullettin, 286, 55-61.

  • LOSCALZO, Y. (2021). Studyholism and study engagement: Whatabout the role of perfectionism, worry, overstudy climate,and type of school in adolescence? International Journal ofEnvironmental Research and Public Health, 18 (3), 910.

  • addictions: Atroszko (2018). Psychiatria i Psychologia Kliniczna,18 (4), 426-430.LOSCALZO, Y. & GIANNINI, M. (2018c). The Bergen StudyAddiction Scale: Psychometric properties of the Italian version.A pilot study. Psychiatria i Psychologia Kliniczna, 18 (3), 271-275.

  • LOSCALZO, Y. & GIANNINI, M. (2019). Heavy study investment inItalian college students. An analysis of Loscalzo and Giannini’s

  • LOSCALZO, Y., GIANNINI, M. & GOLONKA, K. (2018).Studyholism Inventory (SI-10): Psychometric properties of theItalian and Polish versions. In T. Ostrowski, B. Piasecka & K. Gerc(Eds.), Resilience and health. Challenges for an individual, familyand community. Krakow: Jagiellonian University Press.

  • LOSCALZO, Y., RAMAZZOTTI, C. & GIANNINI, M. (2021).Studyholism e study engagement in relazione alle conseguenzesullo studio dovute alla pandemia da Covid-19: Uno studio pilotaquali-quantitativo su studenti universitari [Studyholism andStudy Engagement in relation to the consequences on study dueto the Covid-19 pandemic: A qualitative quantitative pilot studyon university students]. Counseling, 14 (2), 79-91.

    doi.org/10.14605/CS1422106.
  • LUCOCK, M.P. & MORLEY, S. (1996). The Health AnxietyQuestionnaire. British Journal of Health Psychology, 1 (2),137-150.

  • MA, Z., ZHAO, J., LI, Y., CHEN, D., WANG, T., ZHANG, Z., … &LIU, X. (2020). Mental health problems and correlates among746 217 college students during the coronavirus disease 2019outbreak in China. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 29.

  • McEVOY, P.M. & MAHONEY, A.E.J. (2012). To be sure, to be sure:Intolerance of uncertainty mediates symptoms of various anxietydisorders and depression. Behavior Therapy, 43, 533-545.

  • MELLI, G., CORADESCHI, D. & SMURRA, R. (2007). La versioneitaliana dell’Health Anxiety Questionnaire: Attendibilità estruttura fattoriale [The Italian version of the Health AnxietyQuestionnaire: Reliability and factorial structure]. PsicoterapiaCognitiva e Comportamentale, 13 (1).

  • NANIA, T., DELLAFIORE, F., CARUSO, R. & BARELLO, S. (2020).Risk and protective factors for psychological distress amongItalian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Thebeneficial role of health engagement. The International Journal ofSocial Psychiatry (Advanced online publication).

  • REEVE,B.B.,HAYS,R.D.,BJORNER,J.K.,COOK,K.F.,CRANE,P.K.,TERESI, J.A., … & CELLA, D. (2007). Psychometric evaluationand calibration of health related quality of life item banks: Plansfor the patient-reported outcomes measurement informationsystem (PROMIS). Medical Care, 45 (5), S22-S31.

  • ROMEO, A., BENFANTE, A., CASTELLI, L. & DI TELLA, M.(2021). Psychological distress among Italian university studentscompared to general workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.International Journal of Environmental Research and PublicHealth, 18 (5), 2503.

  • ROTHE, C., SCHUNK, M., SOTHMANN, P., BRETZEL, G.,FROESCHL, G., WALLRAUCH, C., … & HOELSCHER,M. (2020). Transmission of 2019-nCoV infection from anasymptomatic contact in Germany. The New England Journal ofMedicine, 382 (10), 970-971.

  • RYU, S. & CHUN, B.C. (2020). Epidemiological characteristics of2019 novel coronavirus: An interim review. Epidemiology andHealth, 42, e2020-2026.

  • SALEH, A. & BISTA, K. (2017). Examining factors impacting onlinesurvey response rates in educational research: Perceptions ofgraduate students. Journal of Multidisciplinary Education, 13(29), 63-74.

  • WANG, C., HORBY, P.W., HAYDEN, F.G. & GAO, G.F. (2020). Anovel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. Lancet, 395(10223), 470-473.

  • WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (2020). WHO coronavirusdisease (COVID-19) dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/region/euro/country/it. Accessed November 5, 2020.

SHOW ALL REFERENCES (31)HIDE REFERENCES

Related articles

Article info

Issue:

Keywords:

Views:

942

Downloads:

144

Cite the article:

Author Surname Author Initial. Title. Publication Title. Year Published;Volume number(Issue number):Pages Used. doi:DOI Number.


Loscalzo Yura. Giannini Marco. Covid-19 outbreak: What impact of the lockdown on college students’ academic path and attitudes toward studying?. BPA Applied Psychology Bulletin. 2021;291(1):63-74. doi:10.26387/bpa.291.1.

Citation tool

How to cite this article

Author Surname Author Initial. Title. Publication Title. Year Published;Volume number(Issue number):Pages Used. doi:DOI Number.


Loscalzo Yura. Giannini Marco. Covid-19 outbreak: What impact of the lockdown on college students’ academic path and attitudes toward studying?. BPA Applied Psychology Bulletin. 2021;291(1):63-74. doi:10.26387/bpa.291.1.