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Depression, anxiety, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This online cross-sectional study investigated the severity of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms among university students and determined the association between various factors and the levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms in response to the coronavirus disease 2019...

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Autores principales: Woon, Luke Sy-Cherng, Leong Bin Abdullah, Mohammad Farris Iman, Sidi, Hatta, Mansor, Nor Shuhada, Nik Jaafar, Nik Ruzyanei
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8158968/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34043731
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252481
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author Woon, Luke Sy-Cherng
Leong Bin Abdullah, Mohammad Farris Iman
Sidi, Hatta
Mansor, Nor Shuhada
Nik Jaafar, Nik Ruzyanei
author_facet Woon, Luke Sy-Cherng
Leong Bin Abdullah, Mohammad Farris Iman
Sidi, Hatta
Mansor, Nor Shuhada
Nik Jaafar, Nik Ruzyanei
author_sort Woon, Luke Sy-Cherng
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This online cross-sectional study investigated the severity of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms among university students and determined the association between various factors and the levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic after the movement control order (MCO) was lifted. METHODS: A total of 316 participants were administered a self-report questionnaire that collected data on sociodemographic attributes, personal characteristics, COVID-19-related stressors, religious coping, and clinical characteristics. In addition, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were administered. RESULTS: Regarding depression, 15.5%, 11.7%, and 9.2% of the participants reported mild, moderate, and severe to extremely severe depression, respectively. For anxiety, 7.0%, 16.5%, and 13.2% of the respondents had mild, moderate, and severe to extremely severe anxiety, respectively. Moreover, 26.3% of participants had mild stress, 9.5% had moderate stress, and 6.6% had severe to extremely severe stress. The multiple linear regression model revealed that frustration because of loss of daily routine and study disruption and having preexisting medical, depressive, and anxiety disorders were associated with elevated depressive symptoms, while a greater degree of family and friends social support was associated with less depressive symptoms after adjusting for age, gender, and marital status. It was also found that frustration because of study disruption and having preexisting medical, depressive, and anxiety disorders were associated with elevated anxiety symptoms, while being enrolled in medicine-based courses and having a greater degree of family support were factors associated with less anxiety symptoms after adjusting for age, gender, and marital status. CONCLUSION: There is a need to conduct a longitudinal study in the future to confirm the causal relationship between the significant predictive factors and depression and anxiety identified in this study, and maintenance of a persistent flow of academic activities and social interaction may be of utmost importance to safeguard the mental wellbeing of university students.
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spelling pubmed-81589682021-06-09 Depression, anxiety, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown Woon, Luke Sy-Cherng Leong Bin Abdullah, Mohammad Farris Iman Sidi, Hatta Mansor, Nor Shuhada Nik Jaafar, Nik Ruzyanei PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND AND AIMS: This online cross-sectional study investigated the severity of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms among university students and determined the association between various factors and the levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic after the movement control order (MCO) was lifted. METHODS: A total of 316 participants were administered a self-report questionnaire that collected data on sociodemographic attributes, personal characteristics, COVID-19-related stressors, religious coping, and clinical characteristics. In addition, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were administered. RESULTS: Regarding depression, 15.5%, 11.7%, and 9.2% of the participants reported mild, moderate, and severe to extremely severe depression, respectively. For anxiety, 7.0%, 16.5%, and 13.2% of the respondents had mild, moderate, and severe to extremely severe anxiety, respectively. Moreover, 26.3% of participants had mild stress, 9.5% had moderate stress, and 6.6% had severe to extremely severe stress. The multiple linear regression model revealed that frustration because of loss of daily routine and study disruption and having preexisting medical, depressive, and anxiety disorders were associated with elevated depressive symptoms, while a greater degree of family and friends social support was associated with less depressive symptoms after adjusting for age, gender, and marital status. It was also found that frustration because of study disruption and having preexisting medical, depressive, and anxiety disorders were associated with elevated anxiety symptoms, while being enrolled in medicine-based courses and having a greater degree of family support were factors associated with less anxiety symptoms after adjusting for age, gender, and marital status. CONCLUSION: There is a need to conduct a longitudinal study in the future to confirm the causal relationship between the significant predictive factors and depression and anxiety identified in this study, and maintenance of a persistent flow of academic activities and social interaction may be of utmost importance to safeguard the mental wellbeing of university students. Public Library of Science 2021-05-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8158968/ /pubmed/34043731 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252481 Text en © 2021 Woon et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Woon, Luke Sy-Cherng
Leong Bin Abdullah, Mohammad Farris Iman
Sidi, Hatta
Mansor, Nor Shuhada
Nik Jaafar, Nik Ruzyanei
Depression, anxiety, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown
title Depression, anxiety, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown
title_full Depression, anxiety, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown
title_fullStr Depression, anxiety, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown
title_full_unstemmed Depression, anxiety, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown
title_short Depression, anxiety, and the COVID-19 pandemic: Severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown
title_sort depression, anxiety, and the covid-19 pandemic: severity of symptoms and associated factors among university students after the end of the movement lockdown
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8158968/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34043731
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252481
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