The Covid-19 pandemic and mental health of first-year college students

Examining the effect of Covid-19 stressors using longitudinal data

Datos Bibliográficos

ID23362113
AutoresJane Cooley Fruehwirth (0000-0001-5018-1143, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, autor de correspondencia), Siddhartha Biswas (0000-0003-1765-8696, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Krista M Perreira (0000-0003-2906-0261, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
EditoresChung-Ying Lin (0000-0002-2129-4242)
Año2021
Volumen16
Número3
Páginase0247999
Fecha de publicación2021-03-05
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPLoS ONE (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1932-6203 • E-ISSN: 1932-6203
EditorialPublic Library of Science (PLoS) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1371/journal.pone.0247999
PMID33667243
OpenAlexW3102509658
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas121
Referencias citadas38

Purpose The Covid-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented stress to students and educational institutions across the world. We aimed to estimate the effect of the pandemic on the mental health of college students. Methods We used data on 419 first-year students (ages 18–20) at a large public university in North Carolina both before (October 2019-February 2020) and after (June/July 2020) the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. After evaluating descriptive data on mental health and stressors by students’ demographic characteristics, we estimated the associations between Covid-19 stressors (including work reductions, health, distanced learning difficulties and social isolation) and mental health symptoms and severity controlling for students’ pre-pandemic mental health, psychosocial resources, and demographic characteristics. Results We found that the prevalence of moderate-severe anxiety increased from 18.1% before the pandemic to 25.3% within four months after the pandemic began; and the prevalence of moderate-severe depression increased from 21.5% to 31.7%. White, female and sexual/gender minority (SGM) students were at highest risk of increases in anxiety symptoms. Non-Hispanic (NH) Black, female, and SGM students were at highest risk of increases in depression symptoms. General difficulties associated with distanced learning and social isolation contributed to the increases in both depression and anxiety symptoms. However, work reductions as well as Covid-19 diagnosis and hospitalization of oneself, family members or friends were not associated with increases in depression or anxiety symptoms. Conclusion Colleges may be able to reduce the mental health consequences of Covid-19 by investing in resources to reduce difficulties with distance learning and reduce social isolation during the pandemic.

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Betacoronavirus · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) · Coronavirus Infections · Infectious disease (medical specialty) · Longitudinal data · Mental health · Outbreak · Pandemic · Psychiatry · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) · Sociology · Stressor · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Demography · Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies · Psychology · Virology