PROPOSTA DI SIMPOSIO: Protective factors of distress in students during Covid-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 restriction lead schools and universities to canceled activities/lessons to minimize gatherings and hence decrease transmission of the virus. Consequently, students switched to the online system. The closure of schools and universities and the stress related to the lockdown experience impacted on academic performance, social relationships, and subjective well-being, favoring the development of psychological dis tress and emotional vulnerability, anxiety, boredom, loneliness and low expectations about the future. These difficulties were also highlighted in high school students, especially in students with learning difficulties. Much of the psychological literature has analyzed individual factors that play a protective role in stressful situations for individuals, promoting their subjective psychological well-being. Positive Psychology shown that optimism, academic motivation, self-efficacy, grit, and resilience represent some protective factors in reducing distress and mental health troubles. Therefore, it is assumed that students with such individual characteristics may have faced the hardships due to the pandemic without serious repercussions on academ ic performance and subjective psychological well-being.