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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1442773

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students' psychological distress, well-being, and utilization of mental health services in the United States: Populations at greatest risk

Provisionally accepted
Elaine C. Russell Elaine C. Russell 1*Tolulope Abidogun Tolulope Abidogun 1Lisa L. Lindley Lisa L. Lindley 2Kenneth W. Griffin Kenneth W. Griffin 1*
  • 1 George Mason University, Fairfax, United States
  • 2 Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States

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

    The COVID-19 pandemic led to major disruptions in the lives of university students. Using data from the National College Health Assessment surveys, both before the COVID-19 pandemic (pre-March 2020, n=88,986) and during the pandemic (Spring 2021, n=96,489), the present study examined mental health symptoms and utilization of mental health services among undergraduate students attending four-year universities in the United States. There were notable increases in measures of psychological distress and reductions in well-being from before the pandemic to during the pandemic. Losing a loved one from COVID, other COVID-related stressors, and loneliness were associated with higher rates of severe psychological distress, while well-being and resilience were associated with lower rates of severe psychological distress. Despite the significant increases in psychological distress observed during the pandemic, overall rates of mental health service utilization slightly decreased from pre-pandemic to during the pandemic. COVID-related stressors and loneliness were associated with higher rates of mental health services utilization, while well-being and resilience were associated with lower rates of mental health services utilization. Analyses revealed that several demographic groups were at an elevated risk for severe psychological distress, including non-binary, female, and sexual minority students, and especially those who identify as both non-binary and non-heterosexual. Predictors of severe psychological distress included those who experienced loneliness, COVID-19 related stressors, and loss of a loved one from COVID-19. Results indicated that students of color, especially female students of color, were at an elevated risk

    Keywords: Mental Health, Mental health service utilization, United States university/college students, psychological distress and well-being, COVID-19 pandemic

    Received: 02 Jun 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Russell, Abidogun, Lindley and Griffin. 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:
    Elaine C. Russell, George Mason University, Fairfax, United States
    Kenneth W. Griffin, George Mason University, Fairfax, United States

    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.