The worldwide spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020 affected all major sectors, including higher education. The measures to contain the spread of this deadly disease led to the closure of colleges and universities across the globe, disrupting the lives of millions of students and subjecting them to a new world of online learning. These sudden disturbances coupled with the demands of a new learning system and the experiences of living through a pandemic have placed additional strains on the mental health of university students. Research on university students’ mental health, conducted during the pandemic, have found high levels of stress, anxiety and depression among students. In this qualitative study, we aimed to understand how pandemic experiences have affected student well-being by conducting in-depth interviews with 34 undergraduate students enrolled in a UK university. All interviews were conducted through Microsoft Teams and recorded with prior permission. Transcripts of recorded interviews were thematically analysed which identified two broad themes: (i) University students’ mental health and well-being experiences during the pandemic; (ii) factors that influenced students’ mental health and well-being. These factors were further distributed across six sub-themes: (a) isolation; (b) health and well-being; (c) bereavement; (d) academic concerns; (e) financial worries and; (f) support, coping, and resilience. Our study identifies the importance of mental health support to university students during pandemics and calls for measures to improve access to support services through these crisis points by universities. Findings can also inform students’ mental health and risk assessments in the aftermath of the pandemic.

/pdf/university-students-mental-health-and-well-being-during-the-2igzzfv6.pdf

University Students’ Mental Health and Well-Being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from the UniCoVac Qualitative Study

The COVID 19 pandemic has led to substantial disruptions in the lives of students in higher education. Partial or full closures of institutions for face-to-face teaching or consultations over a long-lasting period of time in many countries have had significant consequences on the psychosocial health and wellbeing of many students. This perspectives article summarizes the implications on mental, social, and behavioral aspects of students' wellbeing. Moreover, the need for health promoting und supportive services, programmes, structures, and policies is outlined with recommendations for institutional actions on the level of teaching practice, counseling services, and health monitoring, and with the call to re-affirm the wider policy-oriented approach of the Health Promoting University.

COVID-19 related disruption in higher education students' health and wellbeing: Implications for university action

University students are at high risk for loneliness with a potential negative impact on health. The COVID-19 measures disrupted students’ academic routine and social life, which might have affected their perception of loneliness. This study investigated the prevalence of perceived loneliness among university students in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic and its associations with mental health, behavioral outcomes, and sociodemographic characteristics.COVID-19 German student well-being study (C19 GSWS) collected data from five German universities from October 27th to November 14th, 2021, resulting in a sample of 7,203 respondents. Associations of loneliness with depressive symptoms, anxiety, social and physical activity, as well as sociodemographic characteristics, were analyzed using multivariable logistic regressions.A total of 20.6% of students reported loneliness. Students with depressive or anxiety symptoms had more than eight- or sixfold odds, respectively, for reporting loneliness (depressive symptoms: OR = 8.29; 95% CI: 7.21–9.52; anxiety: OR = 6.48; 95% CI: 5.65–7.43) compared with students who did not report any symptoms. Students who were less physically active were more likely to experience loneliness compared with students who were more physically active (no moderate physical activity: OR = 1.39; 95% CI: 1.21–1.59; no vigorous physical activity: OR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.04–1.36). We found no association between loneliness and social activity. However, loneliness was associated with being single (OR = 2.93; 95% CI: 2.55–3.36), living alone (OR = 1.31; 95% CI: 1.13–1.52), or having a temporary residency status in Germany (OR = 2.24; 95% CI: 1.65–3.04).Our findings highlight the importance of loneliness as a relevant factor associated with health. Further research is needed to determine potential protective factors to tackle loneliness and to investigate how study conditions at higher education institutions may affect students’ perceived loneliness.

Associations of loneliness with mental health and with social and physical activity among university students in Germany: results of the COVID-19 German student well-being study (C19 GSWS)

Prospective studies on the mental health of university students highlighted a major concern. Specifically, young adults in academia are affected by markedly worse mental health status than their peers or adults in other vocations. This situation predisposes to exacerbated disability-adjusted life-years.We enroled 1,388 students at the baseline, 557 of whom completed follow-up after 6 months, incorporating their demographic information and self-report questionnaires on depressive, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. We applied multiple regression modelling to determine associations - at baseline - between demographic factors and self-reported mental health measures and supervised machine learning algorithms to predict the risk of poorer mental health at follow-up, by leveraging the demographic and clinical information collected at baseline.Approximately one out of five students reported severe depressive symptoms and/or suicidal ideation. An association of economic worry with depression was evidenced both at baseline (when high-frequency worry odds ratio = 3.11 [1.88-5.15]) and during follow-up. The random forest algorithm exhibited high accuracy in predicting the students who maintained well-being (balanced accuracy = 0.85) or absence of suicidal ideation but low accuracy for those whose symptoms worsened (balanced accuracy = 0.49). The most important features used for prediction were the cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression. However, while the negative predictive value of worsened symptoms after 6 months of enrolment was 0.89, the positive predictive value is basically null.Students' severe mental health problems reached worrying levels, and demographic factors were poor predictors of mental health outcomes. Further research including people with lived experience will be crucial to better assess students' mental health needs and improve the predictive outcome for those most at risk of worsening symptoms. 

/pdf/frequency-and-machine-learning-predictors-of-severe-3de1a10m.pdf

Frequency and machine learning predictors of severe depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among university students

/pdf/heterogeneous-mental-health-responses-to-the-covid-19-qm5pbnyn.pdf

Heterogeneous Mental Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: An Examination of Long-Term Trajectories, Risk Factors, and Vulnerable Groups

The COVID-19 pandemic and its preventive measures had adverse consequences for mental health. However, knowledge of mental health trajectories across the pandemic is limited. This study investigated the mental health levels and changes among university students during the pandemic and lockdown in Germany, as well as their associated factors. We surveyed students' mental health (N = 363, 68% female) with the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-8) and the generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-7) during the first easing phase (July 2020; time 1) and the second lockdown (November 2020; time 2). Cut-off scores from the GAD-7 and PHQ-8 were used to determine clinically relevant symptoms and to define trajectory groups. Sociodemographic and pandemic-related data were assessed (e.g., coping with academic life, social contacts) as well as loneliness, stress, repetitive negative thinking, quality of life, and perceived social support. Paired t-test, multiple regression, and repeated-measures ANOVA were applied. Means and prevalence rates for symptoms of depression (38.8%) and anxiety (25.6%) did not differ between time 1 and time 2, and most students were asymptomatic on the PHQ-8 (44.4%) and the GAD-7 (56.3%) across the pandemic. Feelings of loneliness significantly increased from time 1 to time 2, d = −0.30, [−0.47, −0.13], with higher symptom levels in symptomatic groups at time 2 and greater increases in the asymptomatic groups. Levels of stress, repetitive negative thinking, quality of life, and social support did not differ during the pandemic. At time 1, loneliness and repetitive negative thinking were associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were prevalent among students, and increased levels of loneliness during the pandemic were associated with elevated symptoms and differing trajectories. Further research using representative and larger samples should determine the long-term impact of the pandemic on mental health and loneliness to identify vulnerable students and offer adequate support.

/pdf/mental-health-and-loneliness-in-university-students-during-1svtyq95.pdf

Mental Health and Loneliness in University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: A Longitudinal Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has been negatively associated with mental health. However, little is known about the temporal dynamics of mental health in the longer term of the pandemic. We aimed to investigate symptom levels and changes of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and loneliness spanning two years of the pandemic; and to examine associated risk factors. This five-wave, longitudinal online study from May 2020 to April 2022 included 636 adults (Mage = 39.5 years, SD = 16.11; 84.1% female) from the German general population who completed the international COVID-19 Mental Health Survey. Symptoms of anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7; GAD-7), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9; PHQ-9), posttraumatic stress (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5; PCL-5), and loneliness ("Do you feel lonely?") were assessed using mixed-effects models. Associations with anxiety and depressive symptoms were examined with having children, student status, financial worries, contamination fear, and loneliness. PHQ-9, GAD-7, PCL-5, and loneliness scores overall decreased throughout the two-year period of the pandemic but exhibited an increase during two national lockdowns. Controlled for significant associations with female gender and younger age, increased PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores were associated with contamination fear, financial worries, and loneliness. No associations were found with having children and student status. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and loneliness decreased over time but varied along with the dynamics of the pandemic. Longitudinal monitoring of mental health in vulnerable subgroups is required, especially those of younger age, females, and the financially insecure. 

Mental health across two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: a 5-wave longitudinal study in Germany

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

M. Weber

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Mental Health and Loneliness in University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany: A Longitudinal Study

Mental health across two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: a 5-wave longitudinal study in Germany