Dynamics of the anxiety level of Moscow students during the educational process in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented measures to contain it have disrupted the daily life of most people and affected their psychological well-being negatively. Despite the increasing worldwide relevance of exploring the psychological consequences of COVID-19, this study is one of the first Russian papers on this subject. In order to study the changes in the level of anxiety of students, that took shape during the forced self-isolation regime, the authors carried out two surveys involving the students of Moscow universities, according to Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and a socio-demographic questionnaire. The primary testing took place on March 2-16, 2020 in the face-to-face format; the subsequent online testing during the second stage was held from May 25 to May 30, 2020. The testing covered 13 young men and 29 girls aged from 18 to 25. The survey results showed that over 70% of the respondents regularly infringed the forced stay-at-home regime; 26.8% did not leave their place of residence with the exception of permitted absence cases; 12.2% strictly followed the established prescriptions and did not leave their place of residence at all. The average values of personal anxiety indicators before and during the introduction of restrictive measures did not differ significantly and amounted to 45.1 and 44.9 points respectively (p = 0.94). The level of situational anxiety increased markedly among the majority of respondents (from 38.0 to 45.6 points on the average, p = 0.0002). The intensity of changes in situational anxiety depended on its initial level – the respondents from the group showing the lowest original degree of anxiety suffered from stress most of all. The specific features of compliance with the forced self-isolation regime and the level of labour engagement did not affect the anxiety indicators; however, the stress connected with the examinations and the presentation of qualifying graduation papers was an additional factor affecting the psychoemotional state of the students during the pandemic.