College student mental health: Understanding changes in psychological symptoms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way higher education is structured and delivered, presenting challenges for college students that have the potential to negatively impact mental health. The current study aimed to identify potential changes in college student psychological symptoms since the onset of the pandemic. The study used analyses of covariance to examine differences in perceived stress, depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms between a sample of university students collected in Fall 2016 and a sample of students from the same university collected in Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 after the onset of the pandemic. Findings indicated that college students from the 2020 sample reported significantly higher levels of stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms than the 2016 sample. For stress and anxiety, there was a significant interaction between cohort (2016 vs. 2020 sample) and year in school (first year vs. advanced) indicating that the pandemic may have had a more prominent negative mental health impact on advanced students in comparison to first year students. There were no significant differences between samples on obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The current sample was somewhat homogenous demographically, consisting of primarily first-year students, thus limiting generalizability. Self-report measures were used. College students may be struggling with increased stress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. The current study provides important information to guide the development and implementation of prevention and intervention efforts to support college student mental health in the context of the pandemic.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; College students; Depression; Obsessive-compulsive symptoms; Stress.

Fig. 1

Interaction Between Cohort (2016 and 2020) and Year (first-year and advanced) on Perceived Stress. Note. Values displayed are Estimated Marginal Means. Covariates appearing in the model are evaluated at the following values: Gender = .3231. Error bars = 95% Confidence Intervals. PSS = Perceived Stress Scale-10

Fig. 2

Interaction Between Cohort (2016 and 2020) and Year (first-year and advanced) on Anxiety. Note. Values displayed are Estimated Marginal Means. Covariates appearing in the model are evaluated at the following values: Gender = .3232. Error bars = 95% Confidence Intervals. GAD7 = Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7