Increases in Anxiety and Depression During COVID-19: A Large Longitudinal Study From China

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Shizhen Wu¹  Keshun Zhang²  Elizabeth J. Parks-Stamm³  Zhonghui Hu²  Yaqi Ji⁴  Xinxin Cui² 

[1] Student Counselling and Mental Health Center, Qingdao University;Department of Psychology, Normal College, Qingdao University;Department of Psychology, University of Southern Maine, United States;Department of Psychology, School of Social Science, The University of Manchester, United Kingdom

关键词: COVID-19;    anxiety;    depression;    university students;    longitudinal study;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.706601

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Although accumulating evidence suggests the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with costs in mental health, the development of students' mental health, including the change from their previous levels of depression and anxiety and the factors associated with this change, has not been well-studied. The present study investigates changes in students' anxiety and depression from before the pandemic to during the lockdown and identifies factors that are associated with these changes. 14,769 university students participated in a longitudinal study with two time points with a 6-month interval. Students completed the Anxiety and Depression subscales of the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) before the COVID-19 outbreak (October 2020, Time 1), and the Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) during the pandemic (April 2020, Time 2). The prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms were 1.44 and 1.46% at Time 1, and 4.06 and 22.09% at Time 2, respectively, showing a 181.94% increase in anxiety and a 1413.01% increase in depression. Furthermore, the increases in anxiety and depression from pre-pandemic levels were associated with students' gender and the severity of the pandemic in the province where they resided. This study contributes to the gap in knowledge regarding changes in students' mental health in response to the pandemic and the role of local factors in these changes. Implications for gender and the Typhoon Eye effect are discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY