COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on College Student Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Cohort Comparison Study (Preprint)
Authors: Hirshberg Matthew , Colaianne Blake , Inkelas Karen , Oke Godwill , Van Doren Natalia , Davidson Richard , Roeser Robert 
Published: February 2022

BACKGROUND

Data from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about pandemic impacts on college student mental health. However, early pandemic phase effects on mental health may be transient and high symptom prevalence rates, while alarming, may reflect a continuation of pre-pandemic trends rather than pandemic effects.

OBJECTIVE

We evaluated pandemic impacts on mental health in Fall 2020 as well as the relationship between social and health behaviors and mental health during this phase of the pandemic.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional cohort design, we used multivariable regression analyses to compare college student levels of anxiety, depression, well-being, and search for meaning in life before (2018 n=466; 2019 n=459) and during the pandemic (2020, n=563; N=1488; i.e., pandemic cohort). We used Pearson correlation matrices and multivariable regression to examine the relationship between social and health behaviors with pandemic mental health outcomes. Finally, we plot trajectories of change in our data as an extension of published long-term trends (2007-2017) in college student anxiety, depression, and well-being to descriptively examine whether the pandemic appears to have accelerated pre-pandemic trends in deteriorating college student mental health.

RESULTS

Levels of anxiety, depression, and well-being did not significantly differ in the 2019 pre-pandemic and pandemic cohorts (Ps>.05). The pandemic cohort reported significantly higher search for meaning in life (P=.014, Cohen’s d=0.15), a predictor of later depressive symptoms. In the pandemic cohort, more frequent in-person social interactions were associated with lower anxiety (r =-0.17, P<.001) and depressive symptoms (r =-0.12, P<.01), and higher well-being (r =-0.16, P<.001). Social videoconferencing was associated with higher well-being (r =0.11, P<.05), but only in-person social interactions explained unique variance in well-being when modeled together. In-person social interactions were also associated with less handwashing (r =-0.11, P<.05) and face mask wearing (r =-0.12, P<.01). Plotting our data as an extension of published longitudinal trends in college student mental health did not reveal evidence for pandemic-specific accelerations in worsening college student mental health.

CONCLUSIONS

Across the three universities sampled in this study, we find little evidence for deleterious pandemic-specific impacts on college student mental health. Instead, our data appears consistent with a decades long trend in worsening college student mental health. During the pandemic, college students may behave in ways that increase the risk of infection (e.g., in-person social interactions and less facemask wearing) but are associated with improved mental health and well-being. Although we find little evidence for pronounced pandemic effects on mental on college student mental health, prevalence rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms are alarmingly high, highlighting the need to attend to college student mental health and well-being.

CLINICALTRIAL

not applicable