Anxiety, depression and stress in university students: The impact of COVID-19

Abstract

The pandemic and the attendant change in behavior, together with the general unpredictability, has generated great anxiety in the population. In this context, the aim of this study was to analyze whether the levels of depression, anxiety and stress in university students have changed during the period of the pandemic (2020) compared with the previous normality. This study comprised two groups, in which sample-1 is composed of 460 subjects with a mean age of 20.14 and sample-2, 159 subjects with a mean age of 20.40. All the participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and were assessed by way of the Anxiety, Depression and Stress Scales. The students evaluated during the period of the pandemic presented significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression and stress, compared with students in erstwhile, normal times. Our results suggest that the pandemic has a negative psychological effect on students. It is important to continue exploring the implications of the pandemic on students’ mental health, so that its effects can be prevented, or at least mitigated.