Suchergebnisse

"The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the physical and psychological functioning of the entire world's population. Our study has had three major aims: (1) to identify the major sources of discomfort related to COVID-19 pandemic in third year psychology students, (2) to establish a hierarchy of the major sources of discomfort, and (3) to identify possible vulnerabilities for different sources of discomfort. We used a cross-sectional study to explore more accurately the individual reactions and possible vulnerabilities, also including open-ended questions to explore perceived sources of discomfort. Our study included 289 third-year psychology students from Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (M=24.39 years, SD=7.12). All participants were assessed regarding their levels of: depression, narcissistic traits, perfectionism, perceived stress, self-esteem, intolerance of uncertainty, subjective well-being, and emotion regulation strategies. Our results indicate significant gender and age differences: male participants reported mobility restrictions as a source of discomfort more frequently than female participants, and younger students are less concerned with restrictions regarding social relations, while older students report less emotional problems and less concern with educational problems. Students living in urban areas report less emotional problems than students from rural areas. The results generated by our research point out certain social and psychological vulnerabilities for each perceived source of discomfort (emotion-regulation strategies, perfectionism, narcissism), can bring a valuable input in counselling and therapy for individuals who are maximally affected by the pandemic of COVID-19."

In the last two decades, most of the Romanian mitigate programs aimed at reducing school dropout, have often focused only on remedial activities. However, keeping students in school for as long as possible involves increasing their school engagement, and therefore developing dimensions that target social and emotional skills is strongly recommended. In the present study, 130 primary and secondary school students from disadvantaged backgrounds, participated for 8 months in remedial and personal development activities, whose medium-term goal is to reduce school dropout. Using scales from the BASC3 and ASEBA4 psychological test batteries, we were able to capture significant effects of the intervention in reducing emotional problems and increasing students' adaptability to school-specific tasks, even though the pandemic imposed several restrictions on activities. The collected data revealed two important outcomes. First, they confirmed the effectiveness of a complex, multilevel program, which can develop the socio-emotional abilities of children at risk of dropping out of school. Second, they help us to highlight several factors that can predict its effectiveness. We consider that these empirical data constitute a solid foundation based on which similar future programs can be designed and implemented.