Mental health of Indian young adults during COVID-19

Abstract

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic stands as a global crisis that had severe repercussions on healthand society severely affecting mental health. Certain groups such as young adults were affected on a greaterpotency by the closure of educational institutes. Sudden social isolation and disconnectedness fueled affectiveand behavioral problems. In this paper, we discuss how COVID-19 has affected vulnerable undergraduate studentsin India. The responses were collected using standardized psychometric scales: Generalized Anxiety DisorderAssessment (GAD-7) and Centre for Epidemiological Studies−Depression (CES-D) for generalized anxiety andDepression respectively, (n= 1,038) from students pursuing bachelor’s degrees from different universities in India.On comparing the means, we find clinical anxiousness and depressive symptoms among 18.2% (n= 189) and25.3% (n= 263), respectively. It was found that there was an effect of gender on that led to increased anxietyand depression levels in higher education students. We also observed that the academic field in which they wereenrolled such as STEM or non-STEM also had an effect on their mental health. Significant depression scores werefound for seniors, juniors, and sophomores in comparison to freshmen, whereas for anxiety we found that seniorsand juniors had higher levels in comparison to freshmen and sophomores. Regression analysis further predictedthat increased anxiety was associated with individuals whose family or friends were diagnosed with COVID-19.Symptoms of depression were significantly low when people had regular interaction with friends and family andfollowed an active lifestyle. The study highlights the prevalence of severe anxiety and heightened depressivesymptoms among students. A pattern of gender difference was observed emphasizing the effect of societal gendernorms. Hence, the study finds that the young adult population of India requires immediate attention to formulatepolicies that can mitigate negative developments