• adolescence
• Covid-19
• mental health
• perceived stress
• prevention

The scenario that presented itself to the world during the Covid-19 pandemic was unexpected and directly involved all states, in such an all-encompassing and destabilizing manner as had not happened since the Second World War.
It goes without saying that the feared human-to-human transmission, even from asymptomatic subjects, was soon confirmed in all countries, but at the same time these data were underestimated for a long time, at least in the West, especially since it was a long-lasting pandemic and, we can underline this point, which was uselessly announced.
Subsequently, countries around the world have adopted lockdown measures, social distancing, school closures and implemented online education to prevent gatherings of people and reduce the incidence of infection (Panchal et al., 2021).
Furthermore, the media have wasted no time in highlighting every risk connected to the Covid-19 pandemic, talking about it incessantly and with a propensity to define the worst scenarios, such as disastrous analyzes on an economic and health level, while neglecting the risk and damage of closure on adolescent development processes, much more subtle but at the same time devastating.
In fact, in addition to the direct effects of the pandemic, starting from the first lockdown the indirect effects on the population and above all on more vulnerable groups have become increasingly evident; in this sense, adolescence is, as we all know, a very delicate transition phase in which physical development is associated with psychological development, but above all, experiential development of extraordinary importance, in which the typical experiences of that age are considered milestones , fundamental for correct development and certainly cannot be transferred or postponed to other moments of life, maintaining their same value.
The high school leaving exam, a rite of passage that goes beyond the legal achievement of the diploma, cannot be referred to other data; the "school trip" cannot be compensated by the same trip two years later, just as the arrival of eighteen years cannot be postponed and if they are "lost", even only in their social ritual, they are lost forever (Mancaniello, 2020).
But just think simply how at that age the only significant temporal dimension is "the present", therefore even in the most modest "here and now" there are adolescent emotions that are inextricably linked to a moment that has a very quick expiration.
Furthermore, we must not forget that adolescence is the moment in which relationships and the peer group begin to form, in which the need to know and fit into it transforms into the push to leave the family context, to seek new companies and find "places" in which to experiment with one's way of being and define one's identity - and certainly where the need for physicality is absolutely incompatible with a mask and safety distance (Buzzi et al., 2020).
And so, in a period of sudden social changes, as well as in the midst of the vortex of internal changes experienced by the adolescent, adverse psychosocial experiences, such as social isolation, can be particularly harmful, aggravating or generating functional and behavioral difficulties in this age group.
In this stressful scenario, every particular aspect of daily life has changed and also the alteration of physical activity or sleep, the variations in the educational field with the transition to DaD and distancing from peers, essential factors for general development , have had a profound impact on brain plasticity and therefore on cognitive and emotional development (De Laia Almeida et al., 2022).
The purpose of this thesis is to observe the particular and unique responses of adolescents to the pandemic period, taking into consideration the factors of vulnerability and resilience coexisting and inherent in this phase of development, with a particular look at all those consequences, almost invisible and underlying, which, however, can also be reflected in adult life, as well as all the possible ways of promoting their health at a territorial and broader social level.