• Most Spanish population was under mandatory quarantine.

• Individuals who engaged in Vigorous Physical Activity (PA) during the first week of confinement reported higher resilience.

• Results pointed to the relevant role of Vigorous PA and that personal and contextual factors are related to resilience.

Background:
The recent shelter-in-place order issued by the Spanish government (due to the outbreak of the COVID-19) forced the Spanish population to self-isolate at home. The psychological and social effects of this new situation are unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the impact of such scenario on citizens’ resilience, as well as the connections between resilience, physical activity (PA), gender, weight and body mass index (BMI) before and after confinement, and COVID-19-related information.
Methods:
A total of 1795 people answered an online questionnaire conducted on March 21st, , 2020, seven days after the mandatory shelter-in-place health order was issued.
Results:
Results showed that individuals who regularly engaged in Vigorous PA during the first week of confinement reported higher resilience in terms of higher locus of control, higher self-efficacy, and higher optimism. Moreover, inter-personal resilience differences were observed based on gender, age groups, BMI, weight, and people living with dependent persons or under health risk conditions.
Conclusion:
To the best of our knowledge, these findings are the first quantitative evidence pointing towards a link between engagement in Vigorous PA and resilience within the COVID-19 restrictions in Spain. These findings may have important implications for general population during the course of this pandemic, or future ones.

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