Abstract
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions placed upon society have had a profound impact on both physical and mental health, particularly for young people. The current study assesses student mental health pre, within and post COVID.
Method: Eight hundred and fourteen first year undergraduate students completed a battery of self-report questionnaires to assess for depression, mobile phone use, self-esteem, resilience and social support with data being collected over a three-year period. The data from each year was compared (216, 218 and 380 students respectively).
Findings: Statistical analysis revealed that COVID-19 had a significant impact on self-reported levels of depression, smartphone use, self-esteem, resilience and social support. Multiple regression analysis revealed that smart phone use and resilience were significant predictors of levels of depression.
Discussion and Conclusion: Overall, we found far higher-than-expected mental health problems within the student cohort. These findings are discussed in relation to potential interventions. The findings suggest that COVID-19 has had a major impact upon student mental health, and that we have not yet seen a recovery within our new ‘post-COVID’ times.
Take home message: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a long-term impact not only on student mental health and self-esteem, but importantly on levels of student resilience, making them vulnerable to the impact of any further stress invoking events.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 295-307 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Journal of Health and Social Sciences |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15 Dec 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:No funding was received for this research.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
Keywords
- COVID-19
- mental health
- resilience
- SARS-CoV-2
- self-esteem
- students
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Psychology (miscellaneous)
- Health Policy
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health