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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1441176
This article is part of the Research Topic New Insights into Social Isolation and Loneliness, Volume II View all articles

Academic and non-academic predictors of common mental health difficulties among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Provisionally accepted
Joanne Worsley Joanne Worsley 1*Amy Dryburgh Amy Dryburgh 1Jason McIntyre Jason McIntyre 2Rhiannon Corcoran Rhiannon Corcoran 1
  • 1 University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • 2 Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, North West England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Public concern for the mental health of university students has been rising over recent years. Newly arising stressors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic could contribute to further mental health burden for students. This study aimed to understand the mental health status of university students at an early stage in the pandemic and to identify academic, non-academic, and COVID-19-related predictors of common mental health difficulties at this time using a cross-sectional sample of university students (n=3817). There were high levels of depression and anxiety during the pandemic, with more than 50% experiencing levels above the clinical cut offs. Academic stress, social isolation, intolerance of uncertainty, and more negative attitudes towards remote teaching and learning predicted higher levels of depression and anxiety. University identification predicted lower levels of depression whereas receiving a diagnosis of COVID-19 was associated with higher levels of depression. This study identified COVID-19-related factors that uniquely contributed to students' distress during the pandemic, over and above social connectivity variables. As COVID-19 factors, such as the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, may have driven an increase in distress levels among students, these findings provide insights that could help universities and policymakers develop targeted interventions to support the mental health and well-being of university students during future crises.

    Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Student mental health, Social Isolation, Academic stress, Intolerance of Uncertainty

    Received: 30 May 2024; Accepted: 02 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Worsley, Dryburgh, McIntyre and Corcoran. 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: Joanne Worsley, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.