Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting everyone’s daily life in
unknown measures since its outbreak. Nearly all Universities around the globe were
affected. Further, young people and University students in particular, are known to be
vulnerable for developing mental disorders. This study aims to examine the mental health
social and emotional well-being and perceived burdens of University students during
COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Germany.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional and anonymous online survey
among University students assessed mental health status with standardized measures
(depressive symptoms, alcohol and drug consumption, and eating disorder symptoms),
attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic and perceived burdens, and social and
emotional aspects of the pandemic (social support, perceived stress, loneliness, and
self-efficacy).
Results: In total, N = 3,382 German University students participated. Nearly half of the
students (49%) reported that they are worried or very much worried about the COVID-19
pandemic. The majority supports the governmental lockdown measures (85%). A Patient
Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) sum score of 10 or above, indicating clinically relevant
depressive symptoms, was reported by 37% (n = 1,249). The PHQ-9 sum score was on
average 8.66 (SD = 5.46). Suicidal thoughts were indicated by 14.5%of the participants.
Levels of depressive symptoms differed significantly for the different self-rated income
changes during the pandemic (increase, decrease, no change in income). Further,
levels of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation differed significantly for students
from different faculties. Multiple regression analyses revealed that not being a parent,
having no indirect social contact one or two times a week, higher perceived stress,
higher experienced loneliness, lower social support, and lower self-efficacy significantly
predicted higher scores of depressive symptoms, also higher hazardous alcohol use,
and higher levels of eating disorder symptoms. Other aspects of lifestyle such as social
and cultural activities, dating, and hobbies were reported to be negatively affected during
the pandemic.
Conclusion: The present study implies that University students are vulnerable and due
to elevated depressive symptoms at risk, being hit hard by the pandemic, but are in
general coping adaptively. Low-threshold online interventions promoting help-seeking
and also targeting various mental health conditions might bridge the gap the COVID-19
pandemic opened up recently.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:84483 |
| Date | 31 March 2023 |
| Creators | Kohls, Elisabeth, Baldofski, Sabrina, Moeller, Raiko, Klemm, Sarah-Lena, Rummel-Kluge, Christine |
| Publisher | Frontiers Research Foundation |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 1664-0640, 643957 |
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