IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i4p3670-d1073309.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigating Functioning Profile of Adolescents with Anorexia before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study on Mentalizing, Alexithymia, and Impulsiveness

Author

Listed:
  • Fabiola Bizzi

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Corso A. Podestà 2, 16121 Genoa, Italy)

  • Anna Riva

    (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Department, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Pergolesi 33, 20900 Monza, Italy)

  • Simone Charpentier Mora

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Corso A. Podestà 2, 16121 Genoa, Italy)

  • Marta Tironi

    (Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Corso A. Podestà 2, 16121 Genoa, Italy)

  • Sofia Elena Sforza

    (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Department, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Pergolesi 33, 20900 Monza, Italy
    School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy)

  • Lorenzo Maria Milani

    (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Department, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Pergolesi 33, 20900 Monza, Italy)

  • Renata Nacinovich

    (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Department, Fondazione IRCCS San Gerardo dei Tintori, University of Milano-Bicocca, Via Pergolesi 33, 20900 Monza, Italy
    NeuroMI—Milan Center for Neuroscience, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy)

Abstract

Anorexia nervosa (AN) usually emerges in adolescence when important changes occur in cognitive, emotional, and social processes. Mentalizing, alexithymia, and impulsiveness represent key dimensions for the understanding and interpretation of psychological difficulties in AN. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted adolescents with AN, showing a worsening of the disease. The main aims of the present paper are (1) to compare adolescents with AN before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) to explore the relationship between mentalizing, alexithymia, impulsiveness, and psychological difficulties related to eating disorders in adolescents with AN during the COVID-19 pandemic. One hundred and ninety-six AN female adolescents (N = 94 before COVID-19; N = 102 during COVID-19) participated in this study. The results show that adolescents with AN during the COVID-19 pandemic had a more impaired functioning profile than the before COVID-19 group. Mentalizing, alexithymia, and impulsiveness had a predictive role on psychological difficulties related to eating disorders in adolescents with AN during the COVID-19 pandemic. In conclusion, our data reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has likely represented a stress condition that affects mental health; worsening the severity of adolescents with AN clinical condition. Lastly, predictive patterns suggest the existence of a link between difficulties in the ability to face the problems of the present time using effective strategies and the severity of psychological symptoms.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabiola Bizzi & Anna Riva & Simone Charpentier Mora & Marta Tironi & Sofia Elena Sforza & Lorenzo Maria Milani & Renata Nacinovich, 2023. "Investigating Functioning Profile of Adolescents with Anorexia before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study on Mentalizing, Alexithymia, and Impulsiveness," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3670-:d:1073309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3670/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/4/3670/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elizabeth A. K. Jones & Amal K. Mitra & Azad R. Bhuiyan, 2021. "Impact of COVID-19 on Mental Health in Adolescents: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-9, March.
    2. Palmiero Monteleone, 2021. "Eating Disorders in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Have We Learned?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-4, November.
    3. Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez & Marina Begoña Martínez-González & Juan Camilo Benitez-Agudelo & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Ana Isabel Beltran-Velasco & Pablo Ruisoto & Esperanza Diaz Arroyo & Carmen C, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Disorders. A Critical Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-25, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Isabel Mercader Rubio & Pilar Sánchez-López & Nieves Gutiérrez Ángel & Nieves Fátima Oropesa Ruiz, 2022. "Psychological Consequences of Fear of COVID-19: Symptom Analysis of Triggered Anxiety and Depression Disorders in Adolescents and Young Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-8, October.
    2. Liliana Hidalgo-Padilla & Ana L. Vilela-Estrada & Mauricio Toyama & Sumiko Flores & Daniela Ramirez-Meneses & Mariana Steffen & Paul Heritage & Catherine Fung & Stefan Priebe & Francisco Diez-Canseco, 2022. "Using Arts-Based Methodologies to Understand Adolescent and Youth Manifestations, Representations, and Potential Causes of Depression and Anxiety in Low-Income Urban Settings in Peru," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Tiberiu Constantin Ionescu & Bogdana Ioana Fetecau & Stefan Zaharia & Elma-Maria Mînecan & Catalina Tudose, 2023. "Sleepless Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Insomnia Symptoms among Professionally Active Romanians during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Margarida Frade dos Santos & Celeste Simões & Anabela Caetano Santos & Paula Lebre & Ilaria Grazzani, 2022. "Does Online Implementation Make a Difference in the Effects of a Mental Health Curriculum at Schools?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-18, December.
    5. Francesco Demaria & Stefano Vicari, 2023. "Adolescent Distress: Is There a Vaccine? Social and Cultural Considerations during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-11, January.
    6. Rosa Bosch & Mireia Pagerols & Raquel Prat & Gemma Español-Martín & Cristina Rivas & Montserrat Dolz & Josep Maria Haro & Josep Antoni Ramos-Quiroga & Marta Ribasés & Miquel Casas, 2022. "Changes in the Mental Health of Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Lockdown: Associated Factors and Life Conditions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Lawrence A. Palinkas & Jessenia De Leon & Erika Salinas & Sonali Chu & Katharine Hunter & Timothy M. Marshall & Eric Tadehara & Christopher M. Strnad & Jonathan Purtle & Sarah McCue Horwitz & Mary M. , 2021. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Policy and Practice Implementation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Simone Nomie-Sato & Emilia Condes Moreno & Adriana Rico Villanueva & Pascual Chiarella & Jose Francisco Tornero-Aguilera & Ana Isabel Beltrán-Velasco & Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez, 2022. "Gender Differences of University Students in the Online Teaching Quality and Psychological Profile during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-10, November.
    9. Andi Muhammad Tri Sakti & Siti Zaiton Mohd Ajis & Arina Anis Azlan & Hyung Joon Kim & Elizabeth Wong & Emma Mohamad, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 on School Populations and Associated Factors: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-17, March.
    10. Tit Albreht, 2023. "Challenges to Global Health Emerging from the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-16, May.
    11. Christopher Cambron, 2022. "E-Cigarette Use Is Associated with Increased Psychological Distress among Youth: A Pooled Cross-Sectional Analysis of State-Level Data from 2019 and 2021," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-11, September.
    12. Shannon L. Stewart & Ashley Toohey & Angela Celebre & Jeff W. Poss, 2021. "Abuse, Mental State, and Health Factors Pre and during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison among Clinically Referred Adolescents in Ontario, Canada," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-11, September.
    13. Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger, 2021. "The Legacy of COVID-19 in Education," IZA Discussion Papers 14796, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Dilan Aksoy & Celeste Simões & Céline Anne Favre, 2023. "Exposure to Intimate-Partner Violence and Resilience Trajectories of Adolescents: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Latent Transition Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(9), pages 1-21, April.
    15. Markus Stracke & Miriam Heinzl & Anne Dorothee Müller & Kristin Gilbert & Anne Amalie Elgaard Thorup & Jean Lillian Paul & Hanna Christiansen, 2023. "Mental Health Is a Family Affair—Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Associations between Mental Health Problems in Parents and Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-18, March.
    16. Hexiao Ding & Ziruo Xu & Wangjing Hu & Yannan Guo & Cailing Wang & Sicheng Li & Zhengyang Hui & Jing Wang & Xinran Peng & Wei Xia, 2023. "Changes of stressful life events, coping strategies and mental health among youths in the pre- and post-coronavirus 2019 pandemic era: A cross-sectional study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(8), pages 2018-2030, December.
    17. Manuel Reiriz & Macarena Donoso-González & Benjamín Rodríguez-Expósito & Sara Uceda & Ana Isabel Beltrán-Velasco, 2023. "Impact of COVID-19 Confinement on Mental Health in Youth and Vulnerable Populations: An Extensive Narrative Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    18. Vincenza Cofini & Mario Muselli & Chiara Lolli & Leila Fabiani & Stefano Necozione, 2022. "Does Quality of Care (QoC) Perception Influence the Quality of Life (QoL) in Women with Endometriosis? Results from an Italian Nationwide Survey during Covid Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Juan Antonio Simón-Sanjurjo & Ana Isabel Beltran-Velasco & Carmen Cecilia Laborde-Cárdenas & Juan Camilo Benitez-Agudelo & Álvaro Bustamante-, 2022. "Mis–Dis Information in COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-24, April.
    20. Meghan A. Crabtree & Linda R. Stanley & Randall C. Swaim & Mark A. Prince, 2022. "Profiles of Ecosystemic Resilience and Risk: American Indian Adolescent Substance Use during the First Year of the COVID-19 Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-23, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:4:p:3670-:d:1073309. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.