Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep 28:13:797-811.
doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S266511. eCollection 2020.

Examining Anxiety, Life Satisfaction, General Health, Stress and Coping Styles During COVID-19 Pandemic in Polish Sample of University Students

Aleksandra M Rogowska  1 , Cezary Kuśnierz  2 , Anna Bokszczanin  1
Affiliations

Examining Anxiety, Life Satisfaction, General Health, Stress and Coping Styles During COVID-19 Pandemic in Polish Sample of University Students

Aleksandra M Rogowska et al. Psychol Res Behav Manag. .

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the association of anxiety with self-rated general health, satisfaction with life, stress and coping strategies of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Poland.

Participants and methods: A total of 914 university students, ranged in age between 18 and 40 years old (M = 23.04, SD = 2.60), participated in an online survey. The study was performed between 30 March and 30 April 2020, during the general coronavirus quarantine. Participants completed a standard psychological questionnaire, including General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), General Self-Rated Health (GSRH), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS).

Results: The majority of students (65%) showed mild to severe GAD and a high level of perceived stress (56%). Those students who had the worst evaluated current GSRH, in comparison to the situation before the COVID-19 outbreak, also demonstrated higher levels of anxiety, perceived stress, and emotion-oriented coping styles. The study indicates that the variance of anxiety during the COVID-19 outbreak may be explained for about 60% by such variables, like high stress, low general self-rated health, female gender, and frequent use of both emotion-oriented and task-oriented coping styles.

Conclusion: University students experience extremely high stress and anxiety during quarantine period and they need professional help to cope with COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study may help prepare appropriate future intervention and effective prevention programs at universities.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; coronavirus disease; perceived stress; physical health; satisfaction with life; styles of coping with stress; university students.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean values of standardized Z-scores for satisfaction with life, perceived stress, general anxiety disorder, task-, emotion-, and avoidance-oriented coping,styles in a five groups of students representing self-rated current health status in comparison to the situation before coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, as ranged between 1 = Much better to 5 = Much worst. Error bars represent 95% CI.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kakodkar P, Kaka N, Baig MN. A comprehensive literature review on the clinical presentation, and management of the pandemic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Cureus. 2020;12(4):e7560. doi: 10.7759/cureus.7560 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baloch S, Baloch MA, Zheng T, Pei X. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Tohoku J Exp Med. 2020;250(4):271–278. doi: 10.1620/tjem.250.271 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brooks SK, Webster RK, Smith LE, et al. The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: a rapid review of the evidence. Lancet. 2020;395:912–920. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chaturvedi SK. C COVID −19, coronavirus, and mental health rehabilitation at times of crisis. J Psychosoc Rehabil Ment Health. 2020;7:1–2. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahorsu DK, Lin CY, Imani V, Saffari M, Griffiths MD, Pakpour AH. The fear of COVID-19 scale: development and initial validation. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2020;1–9. doi: 10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed