Worries, Mental and Emotional health difficulties of Portuguese University students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to reach an in-depth understanding on how Portuguese university students feel towards life in general, which are their worries, how often they feel worried, and how intense their worries are. Moreover, it was intended to identify the kind of psychosocial variables involved, strategies they use as well as which are the sources of their well-being. A total of 2991 university students, participated in the quantitative study and in the qualitative study, there were 50 participants between 18 and 35 years old. A significant minority of students got worried frequently, allowing their worries to interfere significantly in their lives. Gender and age differences were found. Having worries demonstrated to be relevant and negatively associated with young people's perception of well-being, self-regulation and resilience; showing that the mental health of the Portuguese university students is at risk, mainly when their social emotional skills are underdeveloped.

National Survey on the importance of sleep in the quality of academic life and mental health of college students in Portugal

“…Thus, there was a substantial association between academic performance, sleep and mental health. The present results correlating overall sleep habits and mental health with academic performance perception are well aligned with previous studies [1][2][3][4][5][22][23][24][25][26] on the role of sleep and mental health on cognitive performance. Also, our results suggest that sleep problems may have more far reaching effects on self-regulation and resilience.…”

“…Thus, there was a substantial association between academic performance, sleep and mental health. The present results correlating overall sleep habits and mental health with academic performance perception are well aligned with previous studies 1 - 5 , 22 - 26 on the role of sleep and mental health on cognitive performance.…”

“…According some studies, greater self-regulation and resilience is associated with a variety of positive adult outcomes, such as better physical health, more financial security, less criminality, and less substance use, and it is possible that improving early self-regulation and resilience may promote health and functioning over the life course [24][25][26] .…”

Subjective accelerated aging moderates the association between COVID-19 health worries and peritraumatic distress among older adults

“…Worries refer to fundamental cognitive features of anxiety, characterized by the repeated occurrence of ideas, thoughts and images about possible adverse events, which are relatively uncontrollable (Borkovec et al, 1983;Williams, 2013). Worries may impact wellbeing and mental health if they appear repeatedly, resulting in a harmful level of anxiety (Reis et al, 2019). Nevertheless, worries are not confined to patients with anxiety disorders or to a particular emotion, but are rather relationally rooted in distinct settings (Lutz and White, 1986).…”

Exploring the relationship between health concerns and high‐risk behaviours in Medical Sciences' students

“…Also, it is stated that following entering to the university and the more freedom from day‐to‐day parental control, the more participation in the peer groups, the more being in diverse social situations, the university students' worries and distresses increase and predispose them to high‐risk behaviours (Basic & Erdelez, 2015; Darling, McWey, Howard, & Olmstead, 2007; Griggs & Crawford, 2019). Finally, it showed that university students experiencing multiple forms of distress simultaneously as a result of multifactorial changes like the transition from leaving home and high school and adjusting to student life (Dyrbye et al., 2011; Hope & Henderson, 2014; Reis et al, 2019). Although it is anticipated that Medical Sciences' students adopt healthier practices as a result of better information concerning health issues (Chourdakis, Tzellos, Papazisis, Toulis, & Kouvelas, 2010), the literature is controversial (Arroyo et al., 2004; Yahia et al, 2008).…”