Dysfunctional personality features, non-scientifically supported causal beliefs, and emotional problems during the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy

The present study aimed at assessing the impact of demographic characteristics, maladaptive personality traits and causal beliefs about COVID-19 on perceived emotional problems in a sample of Italian community-dwelling adults (N = 1043) in the first month of the social distancing period due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Hierarchical logistic regression analysis results showed that dysfunctional personality domains and non-scientifically supported causal beliefs explained all the variance that was originally explained by demographic variables (i.e., age and gender). In particular, negative affectivity and detachment represented relevant risk factors for reduced emotional well-being in our sample. A significant positive association was observed also between emotional problems and supernatural causal beliefs on the COVID-19 infection. Our data supported the importance of considering the impact of quarantine measures on psychological well-being, while suggesting possible risk factors related to individual differences in personality and causal beliefs.