Abstract
ObjectivesTo investigate the prevalence and risk factors for poor mental health of Chinese university students during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.MethodChinese nation-wide on-line cross-sectional survey on university students, collected between February 12th and 17th, 2020. Primary outcome was prevalence of clinically-relevant posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Secondary outcomes on poor mental health included prevalence of clinically-relevant anxiety and depressive symptoms, while posttraumatic growth was considered as indicator of effective coping reaction.ResultsOf 2,500 invited Chinese university students, 2,038 completed the survey. Prevalence of clinically-relevant PTSD, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, and post traumatic growth (PTG) was 30.8, 15.5, 23.3, and 66.9% respectively. Older age, knowing people who had been isolated, more ACEs, higher level of anxious attachment, and lower level of resilience all predicted primary outcome (all p < 0.01).ConclusionsA significant proportion of young adults exhibit clinically relevant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxious or depressive symptoms, but a larger portion of individuals showed to effectively cope with COVID-19 pandemic. Interventions promoting resilience should be provided, even remotely, to those subjects with specific risk factors to develop poor mental health during COVID-19 or other pandemics with social isolation.
Highlights
Infection with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) [1] can cause severe and potentially life-threatening pneumonia [2]
Data for the present study were collected on 12–17 February 2020, namely, around one month after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak
When the students participated in the survey, their locations were distributed across 29 provinces and cities of China
Summary
Infection with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) [1] can cause severe and potentially life-threatening pneumonia [2]. The total number of confirmed cases and deaths worldwide rapidly exceeded those from the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 [3], and in March 2020 the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Such results may directly affect the mental health of people [4]. A group of college students is of particular interest to researchers as they experience multifaceted pressures such as academic workload, economic difficulties, and interpersonal relationship These stressful experiences may put college students at high risk of future mental health problems (e.g., depression and anxiety). Excessive lack of or incorrect sensationalistic information by the mass media, fear of infection, witnessing death and suffering of the general population in the media, personal experiences of bereavement without the possibility to assist relatives or significant others, the impossibility to ritualize the loss with a funeral are all risk factors to develop poor mental health, beyond social isolation [11]
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