COVID-19 Lockdown Stress and the Mental Health of College Students: A Cross-Sectional Survey in China

Abstract

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world adopted varying degrees of lockdown. The lockdowns restricted the freedom of college students, which led to stress and mental health issues. This study constructed a mediating model to explore the relationship between COVID-19 lockdown stress and Chinese college students’ mental health; the mediating role of fear of missing out (FoMO) was also investigated. A 7-item COVID-19 student stress questionnaire (CSSQ), a 6-item mental health scale, and a 10-item FoMO scale were distributed among 695 college students who experienced lockdown in China. The results showed that COVID-19 lockdown stress was significantly and negatively correlated with mental health, significantly and positively correlated with FoMO, and FoMO was significantly and negatively correlated with mental health. COVID-19 lockdown stress significantly and negatively influenced Chinese college students’ mental health directly and indirectly via the complementary partial mediating effect of FoMO. The results intensify our comprehension of the influence of COVID-19 lockdown stress and mental health problems in Chinese college students and also provide practical suggestions for college educators to address such scenarios.

COVID-19 lockdown stress and problematic social networking sites use among quarantined college students in China: A chain mediation model based on the stressor–strain–outcome framework

“…This study employed the CSSQ, which was developed by Zurlo et al (2020) , to evaluate students’ stress related to COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. This questionnaire was confirmed to have favorable reliability and validity in a sample of Chinese college students in previous research ( Hu et al, 2022 ). The CSSQ comprises seven items under the following three dimensions (see Table 1 for details): relationships and academic life (four items), isolation (two items), and fear of contagion (one item).…”

How Psychological Symptoms Mediate Perceived COVID-19 Stress and Identity Distress in Emerging Adults

“…According to Muller et al (2023) individuals respond to lockdown and distancing in different ways and the perceived stress associated with lockdown and resulting isolation rather than lockdown itself, predicted negative affect. Indeed, the ramifications of lockdown as seen in social isolation and distance education is a substantial predictor of psychological difficulties among university students (Akpinar, 2021; Baltà-Salvador et al, 2021; Buecker & Hortsmann, 2021; Dotson et al, 2022; Halliburton et al, 2021; Hu et al, 2022; Meda et al, 2021; Nowrouzi-Kia et al, 2022).…”

Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Teachers and Teacher Students’ Well-Being : Nominal Group Technique

“…The COVID-19 pandemic put a specific strain on the educational process, which degraded teachers' well-being (Hoszu et al, 2022). It was accompanied by restrictions that negatively correlated with students' mental health (Hu et al, 2022).…”

“…The pandemic contributed to the development of students' digital literacy (Yaseen & Joshi, 2021). The lockdown negatively correlated with mental health (Hu et al, 2022) because many students experienced increased stress, anxiety and depression symptoms and a deteriorated mental health state (Faisal et al, 2021). Also, fear for health, inadequate food supply, lack of physical exercise, and limited activity are significantly associated with stress, depression, anxiety and posttraumatic symptoms (Khan et al, 2020).…”