University students’ mental health amidst the COVID-19 quarantine in Greece

Kaparounaki, Chrysi K.; Patsali, Mikaella E.; Mousa, Danai Priskila V.; Papadopoulou, Eleni V.K.; Παπαδοπούλου, Κωνσταντίνα; Fountoulakis, Konstantinos Ν.

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113111

Cited by 463 publications

(475 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…In Greece, where the lockdown was extremely successful in terms of containing the outbreak, worries concerning the effects on mental health were also predominant. The ultra-fast application of measures was probably the reason of this outstanding success ( Fountoulakis et al, 2020 ), however an impact on the mental health status of university students has already been documented by our group ( Kaparounaki et al, 2020 ; Patsali et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Self-reported changes in anxiety, depression and suicidality during the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece

Fountoulakis

Apostolidou

Atsiova

et al. 2021

Journal of Affective Disorders

184

135

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Highlights During the lockdown: Clinical depression was present in 9.31% Severe distress was present in 8.5% Increased anxious and depressive emotions were present in more than 40%. 23.31% experienced a relapse of depression 8.96% of cases without previous history, who manifested their first depressive episode. Beliefs in conspiracy theories were widely prevalent, with, on average, at least half of cases accepting various misconceptions. Beliefs in conspiracy theories probably constitute a maladaptive copying mechanism

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Self-reported changes in anxiety, depression and suicidality during the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece

Fountoulakis

Apostolidou

Atsiova

et al. 2021

Journal of Affective Disorders

184

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The alarming rates of self-harm/suicidal thoughts merit attention, considering that the proportion of the participants who reported during the past two weeks having these thoughts increased from 26% before the pandemic to almost 30% during the lockdown period; and from 6% to 11.1% respectively with regards to having these thoughts nearly every day. The latter findings may be comparable with those reported in a recent study of university students’ mental health during the nationwide lockdown in Greece, whereby 9.7% of the sample reported currently thinking of committing suicide and doing some specific plans on how to do it, amounting to an almost 8-fold increase in suicidal thoughts ( Kaparounaki et al., 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adding stress to the stressed: Senior high school students’ mental health amidst the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown in Greece

Giannopoulou

Efstathiou

Triantafyllou

et al. 2021

Psychiatry Research

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Highlights Adolescents facing national entrance university exams experience high levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Anxiety and depressive symptoms increased during the COVID-19 lockdown. Distress experienced during the lockdown predicts the severity of anxiety and depression symptoms. Targeted interventions are imperative to address the needs of young people in future waves of pandemic.

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“…Moreover, we posited that COVID-19 stress could also result in crisis of meaning [cf. ( 65 )], thus adding to the probability of general mental distress. Also here, we hypothesized that an ability to self-control would attenuate the association between crisis of meaning and general mental distress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meaning in Life and Self-Control Buffer Stress in Times of COVID-19: Moderating and Mediating Effects With Regard to Mental Distress

2020

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Background As evidenced by several studies, mental distress increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this period, citizens were asked to exercise a high degree of self-control with regard to personal and social health behavior. At the same time, we witnessed an increase of prosocial acts and shared creative expressions, which are known to serve as sources of meaning. Meaning in life and self-control are acknowledged psychological resources. Especially in times of crisis, meaning in life has been shown to be a crucial factor for resilience and coping. However, threatening and stressful situations can also jeopardize existential security and trigger crises of meaning. The present study aimed to document levels of acute COVID-19 stress and general mental distress in Germany and Austria during the lockdown and in the weeks thereafter. In order to identify potential risk factors related to demographics and living conditions, their associations with COVID-19 stress were analyzed exploratively. The primary objective of the study, however, was to investigate the buffering effect of two psychological resources—meaningfulness and self-control—with regard to the relation between acute COVID-19 stress and general mental distress. Finally, a potential aggravation of mental distress due to the occurrence of crises of meaning was examined. Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted online during lockdown (survey group 1) and the subsequent weeks characterized by eased restrictions (survey group 2). A total of N = 1,538 German-speaking participants completed a questionnaire battery including a novel measure of acute COVID-19 stress, meaningfulness and crisis of meaning (SoMe), self-control (SCS-KD), and a screening of general mental distress, measured by core symptoms of depression and anxiety (PHQ-4). In a first step, associations between living conditions, demographics, and COVID-19 stress were explored. Second, a moderation and a mediation model were tested. Meaningfulness, a measure of presence of meaning in life, as well as self-control were proposed to serve as buffers in a time of crisis, thus moderating the relation between acute COVID-19 stress and general mental distress (double moderation). Crisis of meaning, operationalizing an experienced lack of meaning in life, was proposed to mediate the relationship between acute COVID-19 stress and general mental distress, with an assumed moderation of the association between COVID-19 stress and crisis of meaning by survey group (lockdown versus eased restrictions after lockdown), and a hypothesized moderation of the link between crisis of meaning and general mental distress by self-control (dual moderated mediation). Results COVID-19 stress was slightly right-skewed. Scores were higher during lockdown than in the weeks thereafter. The rate of clinically significant general mental distress was high, exceeding prevalence rates from both the general population and clinical samples of t...

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University students’ mental health amidst the COVID-19 quarantine in Greece

Cited by 463 publications

References 4 publications

Self-reported changes in anxiety, depression and suicidality during the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece

Self-reported changes in anxiety, depression and suicidality during the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece

Adding stress to the stressed: Senior high school students’ mental health amidst the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown in Greece

Meaning in Life and Self-Control Buffer Stress in Times of COVID-19: Moderating and Mediating Effects With Regard to Mental Distress

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