Elevated perceived stress in university students due to the Covid ‐19 pandemic

Potential contributing factors in a propensity‐score‐matched sample

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21391917
AutoresSven Auerswald (0000-0003-3601-5290, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Justus‐Liebig‐University Giessen Germany), Christine Koddebusch (0000-0001-8443-7944, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Justus‐Liebig‐University Giessen Germany), Christiane Hermann (0000-0001-5969-2898, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Justus‐Liebig‐University Giessen Germany, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen65
Número4
Páginas715-728
Fecha de publicación2024-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaScandinavian Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0036-5564 • E-ISSN: 1467-9450
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/sjop.13013
PMID38497207
OpenAlexW4392921341
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas94

OBJECTIVE: Onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID) pandemic has increased students' perceived burdens. The current study aimed to examine COVID-related changes and to identify potential factors that contribute to students' stress. METHOD: = 959) were recruited at the same university and matched with regard to their propensity score (age, gender, semester). RESULTS: Compared with the pre-COVID cohort, university students in the COVID cohort reported more perceived stress, more depressive and anxiety symptoms, more academic procrastination due to fear of failure, more stress-enhancing beliefs, more distress due to the housing situation, and more perceived study-related challenges (Cohen's d = 0.15-0.45). A stepwise regression analysis identified depressive symptoms, procrastination due to fear of failure, general self-efficacy, increased study demands, perceived difficulties with self-organized learning, distress due to housing, and stress-enhancing beliefs as predictors of perceived stress in the COVID cohort. DISCUSSION: Findings suggest that the switch to online-only education increased the study-related burden for students, primarily due to exams being replaced by a greater amount of regular coursework and imposing demands on self-organized learning. Possibly, stress-enhancing beliefs and procrastination due to fear of failure might have been elevated due to less opportunity for social referencing and lack of felt social support by peer students. CONCLUSION: Experienced increased burden in students during the COVID pandemic was mostly accounted for by a lack of perceived individual resources rather than by an increase in objective study-related demands

Anxiety · Cohort · Cohort study · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Disease · Distress · Pandemic · Procrastination · Psychiatry · Clinical Psychology · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology