A rapid assessment of depressive and anxious symptoms among university students during the COVID-19 public health emergency: A repeated cross-sectional analysis

Sara H Goodman; Bernadette Boden-Albala; Emily Drum; Nessa Ryan; Brooke Gibbs; Desiree Gutierrez; Miryha Gould Runnerstrom; Jeffrey J Wing

doi:10.1080/07448481.2024.2400114

A rapid assessment of depressive and anxious symptoms among university students during the COVID-19 public health emergency: A repeated cross-sectional analysis

J Am Coll Health. 2024 Sep 20:1-10. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2024.2400114. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sara H Goodman¹, Bernadette Boden-Albala^{2

3

4

5}, Emily Drum³, Nessa Ryan³, Brooke Gibbs³, Desiree Gutierrez³, Miryha Gould Runnerstrom⁶, Jeffrey J Wing⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics - Infectious Diseases, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
² Program in Public Health, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
³ Department of Health, Society, and Behavior, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Program in Public Health, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
⁶ School of Nursing and Health Studies, University of Washington Bothell, Bothell, Washington, USA.
⁷ College of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

PMID: 39303079
DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2024.2400114

Abstract

Objectives: To identify potential associations between student characteristics and mental health symptoms during the early parts of the pandemic.

Participants: 3,883 students at a large public university on the West Coast of the United States.

Methods: We conducted a repeated cross-sectional survey to assess health-protective behaviors, mental health, social support, and stigma resistance. The survey was administered in April 2020 and again in November/December 2020. Odds of mental health symptoms were estimated using multinomial logistic regression.

Results: 39% of respondents reported anxious symptoms, 9% reported depressive symptoms, and 27% reported both anxious and depressive symptoms. AAPI had lower odds of reporting both anxious/depressive symptoms compared to whites (OR = 0.59; 95% CI:0.43-0.81).

Conclusion: Students reported elevated levels of psychological stress during the pandemic, yet our results may underestimate the actual odds due to stress brought on by COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety symptoms; depressive symptoms; mental health; university students.