Dataset Information

Depressive symptoms in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of containment measures.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Students are a vulnerable group for the indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly their mental health. This paper examined the cross-national variation in students' depressive symptoms and whether this can be related to the various protective measures implemented in response to the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods

Student data stem from the COVID-19 International Student Well-being Study, covering 26 countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Country-level data on government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were retrieved from the Oxford COVID-19 Tracker. Multilevel analyses were performed to estimate the impact of the containment and economic support measures on students' depressive symptoms (n = 78 312).

Results

School and workplace closures, and stay-at-home restrictions were positively related to students' depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, while none of the economic support measures significantly related to depressive symptoms. Countries' scores on the index of these containment measures explained 1.5% of the cross-national variation in students' depressive symptoms (5.3%). This containment index's effect was stable, even when controlling for the economic support index, students' characteristics, and countries' epidemiological context and economic conditions.

Conclusions

Our findings raise concerns about the potential adverse effects of existing containment measures (especially the closure of schools and workplaces and stay-at-home restrictions) on students' mental health.

SUBMITTER: Buffel V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8992322 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Depressive symptoms in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of containment measures.

Buffel Veerle V Van de Velde Sarah S Akvardar Yildiz Y Bask Miia M Brault Marie-Christine MC Busse Heide H Chatzittofis Andreas A Ladner Joel J Rabiee-Khan Fatemeh F Stathopoulou Theoni T Tavolacci Marie-Pierre MP van der Heijde Claudia C Pischke Claudia R CR Matos Fialho Paula Mayara PM Wouters Edwin E

European journal of public health 20220601 3

<h4>Background</h4>Students are a vulnerable group for the indirect impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly their mental health. This paper examined the cross-national variation in students' depressive symptoms and whether this can be related to the various protective measures implemented in response to the initial stage of the COVID-19 outbreak.<h4>Methods</h4>Student data stem from the COVID-19 International Student Well-being Study, covering 26 countries during the first wave of the COV ...[more]

PMID: 35289850

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Project description:Poor mental health is a growing concern among young people during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The aim of this study was to assess the associations of Internet addiction with depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and stress in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to examine these mental health problems in the context of study-related characteristics. The research sample consisted of 3,099 participants from the Czech Republic (CZ: 1,422) and Slovak Republic (SK: 1,677). The Internet Addiction Test (IAT), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire for depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) were used to measure mental health problems. The analyses also included demographic data (gender and age) and study-related characteristics (form of study, degree of study, field of study, distance between college and home, and housing during the semester). Based on the results of frequency and descriptive analyses, the prevalence of mental health problems was high. The most serious levels of Internet addiction (IAT cut-off point ≥ 50), to which attention should be paid, were found in 3.5% of Czech and 6.2% of Slovak students. Using the standard cut-off point of GAD-7 ≥ 10, 14.1% of Czech and 11.6% of Slovak students were identified with anxiety symptoms. Regarding the PHQ-9 with the cut-off point ≥ 10, 23.4% of Czech and 19.1% of Slovak students had depressive symptoms, which should be addressed. Using the PSS cut-off point ≥ 27, 12.9% of Czech students and 9.1% of Slovak students perceived high stress. The quantile regression analysis showed that Internet addiction was positively associated with anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and stress in all of the analyzed cases (p-value < 0.001). In terms of study-related characteristics, the binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that risk factors for mental health problems in Czech and Slovak students were mainly full-time form of study and living away from home during the semester. Internet addiction, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, and stress are issues that require increased attention, and professionals and policy-makers should implement interventions to effectively prevent and help students with psychological problems.

Dataset Information

Depressive symptoms in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of containment measures.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Depressive symptoms in higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of containment measures.

Similar Datasets

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