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
. 2022 Jun 29:10:857147.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.857147. eCollection 2022.

Prevalence and Correlates of Mental Health of University Students in Hong Kong: What Happened One Year After the Occurrence of COVID-19?

Daniel T L Shek  1 , Diya Dou  1 , Xiaoqin Zhu  1
Affiliations

Prevalence and Correlates of Mental Health of University Students in Hong Kong: What Happened One Year After the Occurrence of COVID-19?

Daniel T L Shek et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, we studied the prevalence and correlates of mental health problems (depression, anxiety, and stress) in Hong Kong university students after one year of the occurrence of COVID-19. We examined the relationships between mental health problems and socio-demographic factors (including age, gender, local/international students, living status, and economic strain), need satisfaction, and difficulties encountered.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey involving 1,648 university students (Mean age = 20.09 years ± 1.37) was conducted. They responded to a questionnaire assessing their mental health (including the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-DASS), psychosocial resources, social support, need satisfaction, difficulties and challenges, and evaluation of services they received.

Results: Based on DASS cutoff scores, prevalence rates of moderate or above levels of depression, anxiety, and stress were 40.0, 50.7, and 22.2%, respectively. While age and gender were not related to the DASS measures, economic strain and living alone were positively related to negative emotional states based on the results of MANOVAs. Multiple regression and PROCESS analyses showed that need satisfaction and difficulties contributed to depression and anxiety, with stress as a mediating factor.

Conclusions: The proportions of students who experienced moderate and above levels of depression (40.0%), anxiety (50.7%), and stress (22.2%) indexed by DASS deserve attention. Living alone and experienced economic disadvantage are risk factors for negative emotional states. Need satisfaction and life challenges are related to negative emotional states. Need satisfaction and difficulties contributed to stress, which further influenced anxiety and depression.

Keywords: DASS; University students; anxiety; depression; economic strain; living alone; stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Effects of need satisfaction on anxiety and depression with stress as the mediator.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of difficulties on anxiety and depression with stress as the mediator.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Johns Hopkins University. Covid-19 Dashboard. (2021). Available online at: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html (accessed January 12, 2021).
    1. Shek DTL, Wong KK. Do adolescent developmental issues disappear overnight? reflections about holistic development in university students. ScientificWorldJ. (2011) 11:353–61. 10.1100/tsw.2011.5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Essadek A, Rabeyron T. Mental health of french students during the Covid-19 pandemic. J Affect Disord. (2020) 277:392–3. 10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.042 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang ZH, Yang HL, Yang YQ, Liu D, Li ZH, Zhang XR, et al. Prevalence of anxiety and depression symptom, and the demands for psychological knowledge and interventions in college students during Covid-19 epidemic: a large cross-sectional study. J Affect Disord. (2020) 275:188–93. 10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.034 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Husky MM, Kovess-Masfety V, Swendsen JD. Stress and anxiety among university students in france during Covid-19 mandatory confinement. Compr Psychiatry. (2020) 102:152191. 10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152191 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types