Abstract
Mixed results have been published on the impact of the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its associated lockdown periods on academic functioning, mood, and health correlates such as alcohol consumption. Whereas a number of students report an impaired academic performance and increased alcohol intake during lockdown periods, other students report no change or an improvement in academic functioning and a reduced alcohol consumption. This data descriptor article describes the dataset of a study investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic functioning. To investigate this, an online survey was conducted among Dutch pharmacy students, PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers (postdocs) of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey assessed possible changes in self-reported academic functioning, mood and health correlates such as alcohol consumption, perceived immune functioning and sleep quality. Retrospective assessments were made for four periods, including (1) the year 2019 (the period before COVID-19), (2) the first lockdown period (15 March–11 May 2020), (3) summer 2020 (no lockdown) and (4) the second lockdown (November 2020–April 2021). This article describes the content of the survey and corresponding dataset. The survey had a response rate of 24.3% and was completed by 345 participants.
Highlights
Division of Pharmacology, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Utrecht University, Global Centre of Excellence Immunology, Nutricia Danone Research, 3584 CT Utrecht, The Netherlands
Other coping mechanisms included participating in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and drinking alcohol, and, for example, while a substantial number of people did not alter their alcohol consumption, both decreased alcohol consumption and increased alcohol consumption have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic [24,25,26]
It is known from research conducted prior to the pandemic that increased alcohol consumption is related to next-day negative effects on academic performance [27,28]
Summary
Other coping mechanisms included participating in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and drinking alcohol, and, for example, while a substantial number of people did not alter their alcohol consumption, both decreased alcohol consumption (to maintain a healthy lifestyle) and increased alcohol consumption (as a mechanism to cope with stress) have been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic [24,25,26] It is known from research conducted prior to the pandemic that increased alcohol consumption is related to next-day negative effects on academic performance [27,28]. The current study aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic functioning, mood and health correlates such as alcohol consumption For this purpose, an online survey was conducted via SurveyMonkey among Dutch pharmacy students, PhD candidates and postdocs of Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
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