Prevalence and Psychosocial Correlates of Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese College Students During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic

Xinli Chi¹, Benjamin Becker², Qian Yu¹, Peter Willeit³, Can Jiao¹, Liuyue Huang¹, M Mahhub Hossain⁴, Igor Grabovac⁵, Albert Yeung⁶, Jingyuan Lin¹, Nicola Veronese⁷, Jian Wang⁸, Xinqi Zhou², Scott R Doig⁹, Xiaofeng Liu¹, Andre F Carvalho¹⁰, Lin Yang^{11

12}, Tao Xiao¹, Liye Zou¹, Paolo Fusar-Poli^{13

14}, Marco Solmi^{13

15}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Lifestyle and Mental Health, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
² University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
³ Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁴ Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States.
⁵ Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁶ Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
⁷ Primary Care Department, Azienda ULSS 3 (Unità Locale Socio Sanitaria) "Serenissima", Dolo-Mirano District, Venice, Italy.
⁸ Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, China.
⁹ Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, United States.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹¹ Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹² University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹³ Early Psychosis: Intervention and Clinical-detection (EPIC) lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
¹⁵ Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.

PMID: 32848958
PMCID: PMC7427603
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00803

Prevalence and Psychosocial Correlates of Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese College Students During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic

Xinli Chi et al. Front Psychiatry. 2020.

. 2020 Aug 7:11:803.

doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00803. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Lifestyle and Mental Health, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
² University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
³ Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria.
⁴ Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States.
⁵ Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
⁶ Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
⁷ Primary Care Department, Azienda ULSS 3 (Unità Locale Socio Sanitaria) "Serenissima", Dolo-Mirano District, Venice, Italy.
⁸ Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, China.
⁹ Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR, United States.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹¹ Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹² University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹³ Early Psychosis: Intervention and Clinical-detection (EPIC) lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
¹⁴ Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
¹⁵ Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.

PMID: 32848958
PMCID: PMC7427603
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00803

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence and risk factors for poor mental health of Chinese university students during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Method: Chinese nation-wide on-line cross-sectional survey on university students, collected between February 12^th and 17^th, 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.

Results: Of 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).

Conclusions: A 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.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; depression; pandemic; posttraumatic; university students.

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Figures

**Figure 1**
Prevalence of clinically relevant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depressive symptoms and levels of post traumatic growth (PTG).

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Prevalence and Psychosocial Correlates of Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese College Students During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic

Affiliations

Prevalence and Psychosocial Correlates of Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese College Students During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Figures

References

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