Depression among higher education students in Greece during the first C19 lockdown

Abstract

Abstract Background The imposition of containment measures internationally during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has indicated the need for data on the psychological impact of quarantine. We use the C19 ISWS Greek dataset to examine self-reported depression in relation to alcohol and tobacco use, social contacts, relationship status and perceived risk of infection. Methods Online survey data was collected between May-June 2020. Eligible participants were higher education students in Greece and 889 students participated. We performed frequency analysis on the participants who completed the questionnaire (N = 585). Weights were applied to eliminate response bias and adjust the sample survey means and proportions to the student population in the country. Results Findings suggest that depressive symptoms are more frequent among female students, first generation migrant students and those in their first year of study. Students who were anxious about getting infected with COVID-19 reported higher rates of depressive symptoms. However, students with slightly higher rates of depression were not very worried about getting severely ill from an infection. The share of students who drunk systematically did not change during the COVID-19 outbreak, their rate is low (0% - 2.2%) and they do not report high rates of depressive symptoms. Depression scores seem to be affected by relationship status, the degree of contacts with friends, and the availability of a trusted person. Results indicate that the fewer the contacts with friends are, the higher the mean depression score is. Conclusions The results confirm the gender-gap in depression and are in line with evidence indicating the high prevalence of depression among women in Greece in the aftermath of austerity and recession. As Greece was one of the South-European countries hardest hit by economic crisis, it is possible that negative effects of the crisis have had a cumulative effect on students' mental health in the pandemic.