Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is continuing unabated in Japan, as of October 2021. We aimed to compare first-year university students' psychological distress before the pandemic in 2019, during the pandemic in 2020, and one year after the onset of the pandemic, in 2021. The study conducted online surveys over three years from April to May each year. Participants were 400 first-year students in 2019, 766 in 2020, and 738 in 2021. We examined differences in scores on the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-Japanese version (CCAPS-Japanese) between the three years using a one-way analysis of variance, and differences in the CCAPS-Japanese critical items using chi-squared test and residual analysis. The average scores on the Depression and Generalized Anxiety subscale in 2021 were significantly higher than those in 2020, but remained the same as in 2019. The Academic Distress subscale score in 2020 was the worst compared to 2019 and 2021. Meanwhile, the number of students who experienced severe suicidal ideation increased year by year from 2019 to 2021. The mean mental health of first-year university students worsened after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and recovered to the pre-pandemic level over the next two years. However, the number of high-risk students with suicidal ideation continued to increase. A system is required for early detection and support for students at high risk of mental health issues.
Highlights
The mean mental health of first-year university students worsened after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and recovered to the pre-pandemic level over the two years
A system is required for early detection and support for students at high risk of mental health issues
How is the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affecting the mental health of university students? A worldwide systematic Internet search showed that the suicide rate was unchanged or had declined in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the level in the pre-pandemic period in 21 high-income and upper-income countries, including Japan [1]
Summary
How is the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affecting the mental health of university students? A worldwide systematic Internet search showed that the suicide rate was unchanged or had declined in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the level in the pre-pandemic period in 21 high-income and upper-income countries, including Japan [1]. International studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students’ mental health highlight its negative effects, such as increased depression and anxiety [4–7]. Another study on the psychological responses to COVID-19 among university students from three countries—Indonesia, Taiwan, and Thailand—revealed that Thai students had the highest levels of anxiety but the lowest levels of confidence in pandemic control and available resources for fighting COVID-19, and factors associated with high levels of anxiety differed across countries [10].On the other hand, we found that while firstyear students in Gifu, Japan, experienced high academic distress in the year 2020, the number of “high-risk” students and those with depression were lower among first-year students in 2020 (i.e., during the pandemic) compared to the previous year (before the pandemic) [11]. We aimed to compare first-year university students’ psychological distress before the pandemic in 2019, during the pandemic in 2020, and one year after the onset of the pandemic, in 2021
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