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. 2020 Oct 2:1-4.
doi: 10.1017/S003329172000392X. Online ahead of print.

A repeated cross-sectional survey assessing university students' stress, depression, anxiety, and suicidality in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

Agata Debowska  1   2 , Beata Horeczy  3   4 , Daniel Boduszek  5   6 , Dariusz Dolinski  7
Affiliations

A repeated cross-sectional survey assessing university students' stress, depression, anxiety, and suicidality in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

Agata Debowska et al. Psychol Med. .

Abstract

Background: The time of widespread outbreaks of infectious diseases can lead to elevated stress and mental health problems among all persons affected, and in particular those sub-groups of the population that are at an increased risk of mental health problems. One such vulnerable group constitutes university students. The aim of this study is to assess stress, depression, anxiety, and suicidality among different groups of university students (medical, psychology, and other).

Methods: Using a repeated cross-sectional study design, we collected survey data among a large sample of 7228 university students from Poland (mean age = 22.78, s.d. = 4.40; 81% female). Data were collected in five waves, during the first 2 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe (March and April 2020).

Results: The results demonstrate a significant increase in depression levels as the pandemic was progressing. We also found that female students scored significantly higher than male students on depression, anxiety, and stress. Psychology students recorded the lowest scores on depression and anxiety. Young adult students (aged 18-24 years) had more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidality than adult students (⩾25 years).

Conclusions: These results provide insights into stress and mental health among university students during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings can be used for a more effective identification of students who may struggle during next stages of the pandemic and future crises.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19 pandemic; depression; stress; suicidality; university students.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
A 2 (gender) by 5 (study stages) ANOVA results. Note: Solid line = females; dashed line = males. 2 (gender) × 5 (study stage) ANOVAs results indicated no statistically significant interaction between gender and study stage for all variables. With regards to suicidality, there was no significant main effect for gender or study stage. There was a statistically significant main effect for gender (F(1, 6784) = 8.21, p = 0.004, η2 = 0.001) and study stage (F(4, 6784) = 2.77, p = 0.03, η2 = 0.002) on depression scores. Post-hoc Tukey's HSD test indicated significant differences between stages 1 and 3 (p < 0.001; Cohen's d = 0.23), stages 1 and 4 (p < 0.001; Cohen's d = 0.28), as well as stages 1 and 5 (p = 0.003; Cohen's d = 0.20). There was a statistically significant main effect for gender on anxiety (F(1, 6791) = 51.78, p = 0.000, η2 = 0.008) and stress (F(1, 6797) = 49.43, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.007). No significant effect for study stage was recorded on anxiety or stress.
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