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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Anxiety and Stress Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1521395
Unmasking the psychological impact of the early COVID-19 pandemic in young adults: Results from a cross-sectional online survey
Provisionally accepted- Saint James School of Medicine, Park Ridge, United States
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic emerged as an international public health emergency and threat to individual psychological resilience.Objective: To examine the prevalence of psychological issues and identify key associations with mental health indicators in young adults (ages 18-28) worldwide during the initial phase of the pandemic.Methods: Through a cross-sectional online survey utilizing convenience sampling, we collected data on demographics, COVID-19-related questions, depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), stress/trauama (Impact of Event Scale-Revised), and fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 scale) between September 2020-January 2021. A total of 183 were eligible analysis. All statistical analyses were set at alpha = 0.05.Results: Over 70% of participants reported mild anxiety (n=129), 80% mild depression (n=136), 40% pandemic-related trauma (n=61), and 50% high fear (n=88). Female respondents reported higher anxiety (t(173)=-3.352, <.001), depression (t(166)=-3.310, P=.001), and trauma from COVID-19 ((t(151)=-2.004, P=.047). Hispanic/Latino/a/x participants reported higher depression (F(2,156)=7.761, P<.001) and trauma scores (F(2,143)=3.999, P=.020). Age in 2020 was associated with trauma total scores (F(1,154)=4.230, P=0.041, R2=0.027). Individuals who were mandated a quarantine were linked to lower levels of anxiety (F(2,175)=3.442, P=.034) and depression (F(2,170)=3.092, P =.048) than those not mandated. Those quarantined with close contacts were linked to lower anxiety (t(162.184)=2.705, P =.008) and trauma (t(149)=2.169; P=.032). Close contacts' hospitalization from COVID-19 infections were linked to lower anxiety (t(127)=2.855, P=.005), depression(t(123)=3.111, P=.002), an d trauma (t(152)=-1.975, P=.050).The findings highlight the significant effect COVID-19 had on mental health in young adults worldwide.
Keywords: Coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, Mental Health, Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, young adults
Received: 01 Nov 2024; Accepted: 18 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shazley, Wiciak and Santhosh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Omar Shazley, Saint James School of Medicine, Park Ridge, United States
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