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. 2022 Apr 15;14(4):2668-2676.
eCollection 2022.

Anxiety and depression in graduating university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study

Nan Yang  1 , Xiaolei Yang  2
Affiliations

Anxiety and depression in graduating university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study

Nan Yang et al. Am J Transl Res. .

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of anxiety and depression in graduating university students during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the associated factors.

Methods: A total of 681 graduating university students and 620 juniors enrolled in the first stage. The Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) were used to measure anxiety and depression. In the second stage, 578 of the 681 graduating students completed the SAS and SDS questionnaires after graduation.

Results: The average SAS score of the graduating university students was significantly higher than that of the juniors (47.66±12.86 vs. 43.97±10.42, P<0.001). Depression was more prevalent among the graduating university students than in the control groups (39.06% vs. 9.19%, P<0.01). The percentages of anxiety and depression significantly decreased after graduation (t=8.602, P<0.001). The anxiety of graduating university students was associated with gender (OR=1.62, 95% CI: 1.10-2.37), monthly family income (OR=0.05, 95% CI: 0.02-0.11), and weekly exercise time (OR=0.53, 95% CI: 0.35-0.08). Their depression was related to their family's monthly income (OR=0.09, 95% CI: 0.05-0.16) and father's educational status (OR=2.24, 95% CI: 1.17-4.30).

Conclusion: Anxiety and depression were rife within the graduating Chinese university students during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic and were both associated with monthly family income. Treatments tailored to specific targets are needed for graduating university students with mental problems.

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

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Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graduating university students’ (A) satisfaction with their current condition, (B) anxiety status, and (C) depression status from the second stage of the survey.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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