European university students’ mental health during Covid-19: Exploring attitudes towards Covid-19 and governmental response

Abstract

The effects of Covid-19 have been felt worldwide and one population that are of increasing concern are university students. University students have endured unique and drastic changes to their everyday and academic lives. It is important to understand how university students in different parts of the world have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has affected their mental health? A cross-sectional study was conducted during the first wave of Covid-19, in May 2020 with 2,006 university students from the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain. Participants were recruited online and were asked to complete a series of standardised measures of psychological distress, anxiety, flourishing and wellbeing. Attitudes towards Covid-19 were measured using a new scale. The factor structure and reliability of this new scale was confirmed using this European sample. Results indicated that all university students were suffering from poor mental health, considerably below pre-pandemic norms. There were many geographical differences in the way that university students perceived the Covid19 pandemic, in terms of their fears, anxieties, loneliness and positivity. There were also significant mental health comparisons between students from the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain. Student beliefs that their government had provided effective leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic were strongly related to numerous mental health outcomes. A picture of university students' mental health is provided and discussed. Geographical comparisons are discussed, as are the implications for practice and future directions.

The relationship between COVID-19-related restrictions and fear of missing out, problematic smartphone use, and mental health in college students: The moderated moderation effect of resilience and social support

“…However, the satisfaction of basic needs is a guarantee of a stable level of mental health. Studies have shown that during the epidemic, there was a significant increase in levels of anxiety and depression among the student population, and the amount of time spent on screens per day changed significantly from the pre-epidemic period (9)(10)(11)(12). The reasons for this have been explored by numerous scholars, with students' lack of self-control, the use of online teaching and learning, and the adverse effects of unmet psychological needs and increased isolation of students due to COVID-19-related restrictions all being risk factors for increased problematic smartphone use among students (13).…”

Primerjalna študija odzivov študentov v prvem in drugem valu pandemije COVID-19

“…Although the present results clearly support comparable positivity among students in the first and second COVID-19 waves, it is appropriate to acknowledge the limitation that there is no comparative data from before the pandemic. Allen et al (2022) compared students from the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain during the COVID-19 pandemic. The German students reported the highest level of positivity, which may be due to the fact that Germany was in the phase of easing restrictions.…”

The dual processes of health impairment and motivation in international student adjustment in China: insights from a demands-resources model

“…Finally, it should be noted that our study was carried out after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This pandemic has substantially affected management practices (e.g., social distancing and quarantine policies), teachers’ teaching methods (e.g., transferring traditional classroom teaching to online teaching), and students’ mental health (e.g., anxiety and depression) in higher education worldwide (Allen et al, 2022 ; Tao et al, 2022 ). The negative effects can be particularly salient for international students, including those sojourning in China (English et al, 2022 ; Meng et al, 2022 ).…”