A cross-sectional analysis of psychological distress among higher education students in Ireland

Abstract

Objectives: To examine levels of psychological distress among higher education students in Ireland overall and across a range of personal, higher education, and socioeconomic characteristics, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of college students in Ireland was undertaken in 2018. Data on 5201 students from 13 higher education institutions (HEIs) were analyzed. Stress, anxiety, and depression symptom scores based on the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were calculated and reported, with statistical testing used to compare across groups. Results: Overall, 29.6% and 19.1% of respondents were classified in the mild to moderate and severe to extremely severe range for depression respectively. The corresponding proportions were 25.9% and 20.7% for anxiety, and 24.5% and 14.8% for stress. Differences across groups included higher levels of psychological distress for transgender and female students compared to males (p < 0.01), for gay/lesbian/bisexual students compared to heterosexuals (p < 0.01), for undergraduates compared to postgraduates (p < 0.01), for students from intermediate/technical/service/unskilled social classes compared to professional/self-employed social classes (p < 0.01), and for those with financial difficulties compared to those without financial difficulties (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Rates of psychological distress were high amongst college students in Ireland prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with substantial differences across groups. Due to study limitations, such as possible selection bias, the findings need replication. Further research is needed to determine the impact of the pandemic on the prevalence of mental illness in this population.

Relationship Between Freshmen’s Psychological Health and Family Economic Status in Chinese Universities: A Latent Profile Analysis

“…Cross-sectional analysis aligns with prior research on mental health profiles and risks in university populations. 37 , 38 Self-report measures were used to evaluate mental health symptoms and family economic status. An online survey collected data from a large sample of freshman students.…”

Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Emerging Adult Undergraduates: A Longitudinal and Two-Cohort Study

“…Although the DASS-21 is not a diagnostic tool, higher scores on it do reflect the existence of mental issues (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and the scale is widely used in both clinical practice and research. Following Cullinan et al (2022), and to facilitate the presentation and discussion of the principal results, the three scales were analyzed separately in three categories, in accordance with the severity of the symptoms. The three categories were normal (with scores of 0-9, 0-7, and 0-14 for depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively); mild/moderate (10-20, 8-14, 15-25); and severe/extremely severe (21-28+, 15-20+, 26-34+).…”

Teachers’ mental health issues associated with the university reopening at the onset of the post-COVID-19 era in Ecuador

“…Hence, it is understood that most research and support will focus mainly on the psychological responses of third-level education students (i.e., colleges and universities) rather than academic and non-academic staff. The former group of people has been progressively recognized as a vulnerable population facing constant psychological distress even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Cullinan et al, 2022;Eisenberg et al, 2013;Hamza et al, 2021;Prince, 2015).…”