Predictors of stress in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

David, Mírian Celly Medeiros Miranda; Vieira, Gilberto Ramos; Leôncio, Lívia Maria de Lima; Neves, Letycia dos Santos; Bezerra, Clécia Gabriela; Mattos, Marina Souza Barbosa de; Santos, Nataly Ferreira dos; Santana, Flávio Henrique de; Antunes, Rodolfo Barbosa; Araújo, John Fontenele; Matos, Rhowena Jane Barbosa de

doi:10.1016/j.jadr.2022.100377

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…This apparently contradicts the results of previous findings, such as those by Suh [71], which showed that students who slept poorly during periods of stress had lower levels of salivary cortisol secretion in the early morning. Similar results were obtained by David et al [72], who instructed participants to carry out the collection 30 min after waking up and encouraged them to wake up at 8 a.m. to perform the collection at 8:30 a.m. In this study, they also found that poorer sleep quality was a predictor of lower morning salivary cortisol levels 30 min after waking up.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Salivary Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Cortisol Associated with Psychological Alterations in University Students

Ballestar-Tarín,

Ibáñez-del Valle,

Mafla-España

et al. 2024

Diagnostics

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Introduction: Recent evidence reported mental health issues in university students such as anxiety and depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality. Decreased plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels have been proposed as a biomarker of depressive symptoms, whereas cortisol levels are an index of energy mobilization and stress and have been linked to sleep quality. Given that salivary biomarkers represent an interesting new field of research, the aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate salivary BDNF and cortisol levels in university students to assess whether they have associations with psychological disturbances such as anxiety and depressive symptoms, sleep quality, and stress level. Methods: Salivary BDNF and cortisol levels were measured by specific immunoassays in 70 students whose mental health was also evaluated on the same day through the evaluation of anxiety and depression symptoms (Goldberg scale), sleep quality (Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index and Athens Insomnia Scale), and stress (self-perceived stress scale) and healthy lifestyle habits (alcohol consumption, smoking, regular exercise, and body mass index) were also measured. Multivariate regression analyses were performed in order to identify the strengths of associations between psychological alterations and the concentrations of BDNF, cortisol, and other variables. Results: Salivary BDNF levels were significantly higher in students with more depressive symptoms, whereas no significant differences were found for cortisol levels. When performing the binary logistic regression model, BDNF levels are included as a predictor variable for a high-depressive-symptoms burden (p < 0.05). Students with worse sleep quality on the Pittsburg Scale had higher cortisol levels (p < 0.05). The subdomains of sleep latency and sleep medication were those significantly associated with salivary cortisol levels in logistic regression analyses (OR = 15.150, p = 0.028). Sleep medication only appeared to be related to cortisol levels (OR = 185.142, p = 0.019). Perceived stress levels and anxiety symptoms were not associated with BDNF or cortisol levels. Conclusions: BDNF could play a key role in the pathophysiology of mood-related disorders, and elevation of its peripheral levels could contribute to protecting neurons from the development of mental illness. Higher salivary cortisol levels measured in the morning are accompanied by poorer sleep quality. More research is needed, focusing on salivary biomarkers of disorders related to depressive symptoms and poor sleep quality as a potential tool for the diagnosis and prevention of mental illness.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Salivary Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Cortisol Associated with Psychological Alterations in University Students

Ballestar-Tarín,

Ibáñez-del Valle,

Mafla-España

et al. 2024

Diagnostics

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“…When taking into consideration the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, another interpretation is that greater sleep problems than usual near the beginning/prior to the peak of COVID-19 (T7) was predictive of more frequent/severe college stress in the midst of the pandemic (T8). The latter interpretation aligns with previous work linking reduced sleep quality with greater stress perceptions in college students during the pandemic (David et al, 2022;Gusman et al, 2021) and supports the notion that improved sleep quality may support or protect against future perceptions of stress.…”

Section: Prospective Associationssupporting

confidence: 88%

Within-person reciprocal links between stress, sleep, and depressive symptoms across Latino/a adolescents’ transition to and through college

Sasser,

Lecarie,

Gusman

et al. 2024

Dev Psychopathol

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Evidence suggests bidirectional relations between stress, sleep, and depressive symptoms in adolescence and young adulthood. Less research has disaggregated within- and between-person variance in these associations over time or within Latino/a college students. This study examined longitudinal, within-person reciprocal relations between stress, sleep, and depressive symptoms among 181 Latino/a adolescents (M age = 18.10; SD = 0.41, 35% male) transitioning to college. Participants were assessed in their senior year of high school and annually until their fourth year of college. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was used to parse out within- and between-person sources of variance. Results indicated overall (between-person) relations among depressive symptoms and school/college stress and sleep problems. There were reciprocal within-person links between stress and sleep problems across the first two years of college. Within-person increases in depressive symptoms during the second year of college predicted more stress than usual in the third year, which predicted increased depressive symptoms in the fourth year. More sleep problems than usual in the third year of college predicted higher stress in the fourth year. Findings provide evidence for within-person cross-lagged relations among various domains of adjustment during college and may inform future prevention efforts for incoming Latino/a college students targeting mental health and sleep problems.

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“…Having an academic activity during a period of isolation was reported as important for emotional control and reducing stress, in addition to maintaining "social-virtual" contact with teachers and colleagues [46][47][48][49]. Based on the previous discussions, it is believed that a lack of academic activity contributed to increased stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sleep, Drowsiness, and Stress in Dental Students: A Longitudinal Study

Malheiros,

Ferreira,

Nascimento

et al. 2024

Preprint

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: The objetive of this study was to evaluated the quality of sleep, degree of drowsiness, and stress index of dentistry students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This study was conducted among dentistry students from two universities, obtaining data at baseline and 10 months after the pandemic. The Pittsburgh questionnaire, Epworth sleepiness scale, and Cohen perceived stress scale were used to assess sleep quality, sleepiness index, and stress level, respectively. Statistical analyses were performed using Generalized Estimating Equations, with binary, ordinal, and linear logistic regression. Results: Baseline sleep quality had a positive influence on sleep quality compared with the assessment after 10 months. Drowsiness is influenced by factors, such as the time of assessment, income of up to one salary, and physical activity. There was greater drowsiness 10 months after the pandemic. High stress levels were observed during both assessments. Female sex, deteriorated family relationships, and lack of physical activity increase the risk of stress. Conclusion: The quality of sleep was positively affected during the pandemic period, remaining high, and drowsiness increased.

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Predictors of stress in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 9 publications

References 38 publications

Salivary Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Cortisol Associated with Psychological Alterations in University Students

Salivary Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Cortisol Associated with Psychological Alterations in University Students

Within-person reciprocal links between stress, sleep, and depressive symptoms across Latino/a adolescents’ transition to and through college

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sleep, Drowsiness, and Stress in Dental Students: A Longitudinal Study

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